Palestinian reporter Youmna El Sayed: My family told me I had to choose between being a journalist or a mother'

"Youmna El Sayed was living in Gaza City with her husband and four children when the war broke out in October 2023. As a correspondent for Al Jazeera's English-language network, she first reported on Hamas' October 7 attacks that killed around 1,200 Israelis and saw 251 hostages taken. She then reported on Israel's brutal response, which, to date, has left around 70,000 Palestinians dead."

"When she had the opportunity to leave Gaza at the end of 2023, she hesitated. It was a very difficult decision for me, she told EL PAIS, speaking on November 18 in Barcelona, where she had joined the Association of Journalists in demanding that the international press be allowed into Gaza. There was a key moment, when my mother told me, You have to choose between being a journalist or being a mother, because you can't be both anymore,' she says."

"Now she lives as a refugee in her hometown of Cairo, but travels the world continuing to inform and report on Gaza post-ceasefire: It is the genocide of a people in front of the eyes of the world, she says. El Sayed suffers from survivor's guilt. I am happy because now my children are safe, but my colleagues are still there and the genocide continues, she says."

Youmna El Sayed lived in Gaza City with her husband and four children when the October 2023 war began. She reported for Al Jazeera English on Hamas's October 7 attacks and on the subsequent Israeli military campaign that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. Israeli restrictions on foreign journalists made her and other local reporters the primary source of information from Gaza. She eventually evacuated with her children to Cairo after agonizing over the decision, citing her mother's injunction and concerns for their safety. She continues reporting internationally, suffers survivor's guilt, and recounts repeated displacement, hunger and threats while covering the conflict.

Read at english.elpais.com