THE ECONOMIST
Ali Jadallah has lost four relatives in Gaza. He’s still taking pictures
Numb with grief, a photographer works to bear witness
Oct 27th 2023
By Ali Jadallah
I’m used to being the person behind the camera. Then on October 11th I was taking a photo of a house that had been bombed. It was near the street where my parents lived with my two brothers and sister. I heard an explosion and realised my family house had been hit. I ran towards it and saw it had been reduced to rubble.
The whole world died suddenly. There were no feelings, there were no colours, there was nothing. I tried to call my brothers but I knew they were under the rubble. Then I heard my mother’s voice – and I felt there was still hope in this world. I managed to pull her out. She was the only one who survived. We never found my sister’s body.
I left my wife and kids in the south of Gaza city and moved into al-Shifa hospital to stay with my injured mother. I became a body without a soul. I barely talk to my children – just a very short phone call every day. All I do is work. I’m part of a team of six photographers who live and work together at the hospital.
Final goodbye A mother cradles an injured child (opening image). From top to bottom: Ali Jadallah kisses the hand of his dead brother after his family home in Gaza city was reduced to rubble. His other brother, sister and father also died. Jadallah inspects the wreckage
We go out in the mornings to photograph the bombing from the night before. It’s dangerous to be out on the streets so I give my team a maximum of seven minutes to take their photos before we go back to the hospital. I am always worried about them.
“I heard an explosion and realised my family house had been hit”
The most important thing now is to report what is happening. My team and I don’t really eat, or sleep more than a couple of hours a night. We’re fuelling ourselves with dates, because they have a lot of sugar. I feel numb. I am a working machine.
Emergency room (from top to bottom) A baby injured in the explosion at al-Ahli hospital is taken to al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, for treatment. A search team recovers the body of a girl. The aftermath of an airstrike. Gazans injured at al-Ahli wait at al-Shifa hospital. Palestinians flee to safer areas
“I became a body without a soul. I barely talk to my children”
Life cut short (from top to bottom) An injured woman clutches the hand of a lifeless relative. Civilians carry the body of a girl, killed in an Israeli airstrike at al-Shati refugee camp. A mother and child at al-Shifa hospital. Rescuers comb through the rubble of a Greek Orthodox church destroyed in an airstrike. A waiting room at al-Shifa hospital
“The most important thing now is to report what is happening”
Pulled from the rubble (from top to bottom) Search-and-rescue teams look for survivors after an airstrike. Medics give CPR to a Palestinian civil-defence officer at al-Shifa hospital. A baby is rescued from the rubble. A health worker and her family mourn a relative
Ali Jadallah is a photographer in Gaza. He was speaking to Dara Coker
photographs ali jadallah / anadolu agency via getty images.
black and white photographs mustafa hassona / anadolu agency via getty images