Operation Pillar of Cloud – Live News

Just before sundown on 14 November, Israel launched a full-scale aggressive military operation on the Gaza Strip. It started with the targeted assassination of a senior military leader of Hamas, the party democratically-elected by Palestinians in 2006.

As soon as 52yo Ahmed Jabari was assassinated, I knew a bloody full-scale operation would follow. An hour into the operation, as the ferocity of Israel’s escalation became more apparent, and as the airstrike and bombardment reports came in, and as the Palestinan resistance groups fired retaliatory rockets, it was clear that traditional film making would not suffice as a means by which to document what was happening.

So, with help from a team, I started live broadcasting English-language Gaza-based breaking news online. The live channel ended up clocking almost half a million views.

I was one of just a few native English journalists in Gaza during every minute of the war. I felt especially responsible to work indefatigably to provide this live news service, which I learned that people were increasingly reliant on all over the world, but interestingly particularly in North American and Western Europe.

As I live broadcasted news, volunteer live bloggers tried to codify my reports into a textual record.

During the war, which saw unprecedented military resistance from Palestinian ‘militant groups’, I also appeared on various international and local TV/radio channels giving news and comment, including on US, Canadian, South African and British national and international networks:

Various news outlets also referenced me in written pieces:

Special thanks to: Vanessa Beeley, Jiji Rostom, Bassem Abu Dagga, Shahd Abusalama, Abed Enen, Ibrahim Omar, Noor Harazeen, Walid Rouk, Ahmed Issa, Mousheera Jammal, Anonymous Hacktivist Group, Sana’a Sultan, Alx Gucci, Neer Mohammed, Dana Haifas, Yousef Aljamal, Roger Fowler, Ustream.