Palestinian journalist Sami al Ajrami has left the Gaza Strip

Sami al Ajrami, Palestinian journalist born in Gaza who in these months of war reported daily on Republic the situation in the Strip, said he left the territory and went to Egypt. Ajrami, who has been working and writing from the Gaza Strip for the news agency for years HANDLE and collaborates with various international media, he was the only journalist left to write news from there in the Italian press.

In an article published Thursday on Republic he said he decided to leave for fear of being killed in Israeli bombings: «I have good reasons to think that as a journalist I was becoming a target. It has happened to many others, you suddenly become uncomfortable and you don’t even know exactly why. Too many of my colleagues have died. Many others have fled or are fleeing right now.” According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international association created with the aim of defending press freedom and journalists’ rights, to date Israeli bombings have killed 97 journalists in the Strip.

Ajrami said he realized his life was in danger three weeks ago, and secretly organized the trip to Egypt after much hesitation. A few days ago he said that he had managed to get his daughters, who have now taken refuge in the Netherlands, to leave the Strip and that he thought that “knowing they were safe would help me do my job better”. As the days passed, however, he said, the risks for him increased.

Ajrami explained that what worried him above all was the imminent invasion of Rafah, in the south of the Strip, the only city that has not yet been invaded by the Israeli army. In recent days, the Israeli government had approved a plan that provides for the evacuation of the Rafah area and the subsequent attack, but for the moment it is not known when the invasion will take place. Ajrami spoke about it like this:

And then, assuming we survive, with the invasion by land, those who remain inside will be definitively trapped. Far from the Rafah border, there is no longer any possibility of leaving. There is a risk of being stuck for months. Maybe for years. Maybe forever. I just don’t feel like risking not seeing my daughters again for who knows how long. And then I’m exhausted. Six months of war, always on the field reporting atrocities and suffering, broke me.