Motaz Azaiza, an independent Palestinian photojournalist who extensively documented Israeli aggression and the widescale destruction of Gaza has evacuated the Strip “with a broken heart” and is now in Doha, Qatar.
On Tuesday, Azaiza shared his decision to leave the besieged strip on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) with his combined 19.4 million followers.
“I had to evacuate for a lot of reasons. You all know some of it but not all of it,” he wrote in the caption.
“This is the last time you will see me with this heavy, stinky [press] vest. I decided to evacuate today,” he said in the video.
“I’m sorry but, Inshallah (God willing), hopefully soon I will come back […] and help build Gaza again,” he said as he bid farewell to the friends and colleagues around him.
A day later, he shared his departure as he boarded a Qatari military aircraft at Egypt’s El Arish International Airport.
The 24-year-old Palestinian drew attention across the world after he began to capture the brutal on-the-ground realities in Gaza ever since Israel started its air and ground attacks on the tiny occupied Strip following Hamas’ Oct 7 attacks, in which the group killed 1139 and took more than 200 people captive, according to Israeli officials.
Israel’s relentless offensive has so far killed at least 25,490 people in Gaza, around 70 per cent of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the territory.
Azaiza documented raw, unfiltered footage of wounded children and adults crushed under rubble as a result of countless Israeli air strikes.
“Should I be happy?” he stated in a clip as the plane headed towards Doha.
He went on to expand upon his decision, saying that he left Gaza with a “broken heart and eyes filled with tears”.
“There was no other option after 108 days of continuous massacres against us. It’s time to move somewhere else so I can do more work and I pray that I can be a reason to stop this war and help rebuild Gaza again,” he said on Wednesday.
