Shrouq Al Aila - Part 1
Gaza Press Files · Shrouq Al Aila · Part 1 of 2
She was holding her husband and their baby when the shrapnel came through the wall.
October 22 2023. Shrouq Al Aila lost her husband Roshdi Sarraj to an Israeli missile strike on the morning they sat down for breakfast. She and their infant daughter survived. She took over the company he built. This is her story, documented.
Who she is. Committee to Protect Journalists. Named on record.
02 / 07
Journalist. Producer. Researcher. Gaza Strip.
Shrouq Al Aila is a Palestinian journalist, producer and researcher reporting from the Gaza Strip.
She started working for Ain Media, an independent production company, in 2019.
She later married Roshdi Sarraj, one of the company's co-founders.
In the autumn of 2023 they were on a work trip in Saudi Arabia when their home became a war zone. They returned immediately.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, "Shrouq Al Aila, Gaza Strip," November 22 2024, cpj.org
October 22 2023. The morning it happened. CPJ on record.
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Shrapnel from an Israeli missile attack killed Roshdi. Injured Shrouq and their infant daughter.
On the morning of October 22 2023, as the family was about to have breakfast at home, shrapnel from an Israeli missile attack on a nearby house killed Roshdi Sarraj.
Shrouq Al Aila and their infant daughter were injured in the same strike.
With one hand she held her daughter, with the other she held on to her husband. She and her daughter survived. He did not.
In her grief, she was advised to give up on journalism in an environment where practicing it can get you killed.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, November 22 2024 · Columbia Journalism Review, "Q&A: Shrouq Aila on documenting a televised genocide," December 18 2024
Who Roshdi was. Co-founder. Husband. Killed by the Israeli military.
04 / 07
He built a company to document Gaza from the inside. He was 31.
Roshdi Sarraj was a co-founder of Ain Media, an independent production company specializing in professional media services based in Gaza.
CPJ documented his killing on October 22 2023 by the Israeli military.
He and Shrouq had married after she joined the company in 2019.
Together they built their work around showing the daily reality of life in Gaza to audiences who would otherwise never see it.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, "Shrouq Al Aila, Gaza Strip," November 22 2024 · Columbia Journalism Review, December 18 2024
She took over. CPJ: "once you are a journalist, you are a journalist for life."
05 / 07
Despite being displaced repeatedly. Despite everything.
Shrouq Al Aila assumed the role of director of Ain Media following the killing of Roshdi Sarraj.
Despite having been displaced repeatedly by Israeli bombardment, she continued to cover the war and its impact on Gaza's residents.
Columbia Journalism Review reported she walks two to three hours daily to reach places in Gaza where she reports.
Her own words, recorded in a video played at CPJ's award ceremony: "I decided to continue Roshdi's work because I believe once you are a journalist, you are a journalist for life."
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, November 22 2024, video statement · CPJ archive
CPJ citing UN findings. On record. November 2024.
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A deliberate attempt to conceal what is happening in Gaza from the rest of the world.
In its formal statement on Shrouq Al Aila's award, CPJ wrote that it has contended for many months, and the UN found, that Israel's attacks on the media and media infrastructure are deliberate.
CPJ said these attacks, along with campaigns to discredit journalists, are "a deliberate attempt to conceal what is happening in Gaza from the rest of the world."
CPJ added it would hold the award "until she is able to come to New York to receive it in person."
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, "Shrouq Al Aila, Gaza Strip," November 22 2024, full statement
The question. Not a claim.
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She lost her husband holding their baby. She was advised to stop. She kept working. What does it take to be seen?
Tomorrow: November 21 2024. New York. The Committee to Protect Journalists names her one of four International Press Freedom Award recipients of the year. She could not attend. Her own words were played to the room instead.
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