Shrouq Al Aila - Part 2
Gaza Press Files · Shrouq Al Aila · Part 2 of 2 · Final Part
November 21 2024. New York City. Her name was called. Her seat was empty.
The Committee to Protect Journalists named Shrouq Al Aila one of four International Press Freedom Award recipients of 2024. Israel did not permit her to leave Gaza to attend. This is what happened in the room, and what is still happening now.
CPJ International Press Freedom Award. 34th annual. Named recipients.
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Four journalists. Four continents. One could not come.
On November 21 2024, the Committee to Protect Journalists held its 34th annual International Press Freedom Awards in New York City, hosted by John Oliver and chaired by Jessica E. Lessin.
CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg told the room: "This year has been like no other. We have painstakingly documented the ever-growing attacks on the press."
The 2024 honorees were Shrouq Al Aila (Gaza Strip), Quimy de León (Guatemala), Samira Sabou (Niger) and Alsu Kurmasheva (Russia), each named for enduring war, prison, government crackdowns and criminalization of their work.
Three were present. Shrouq Al Aila was not.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, "CPJ recognizes fearless journalists at 2024 International Press Freedom Awards," November 22 2024
NPR's Leila Fadel. On stage. On record.
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Israel did not permit the Gazan journalist to leave the occupied Palestinian territory to attend the awards.
Leila Fadel, host of NPR's Morning Edition, recognized Shrouq Al Aila in absentia at the ceremony.
CPJ's own report states plainly: "Israel did not permit the Gazan journalist to leave the occupied Palestinian territory to attend the awards."
A Getty Images photograph from the event captured the three present honorees on stage, with the caption noting Al Aila "was not allowed to leave Gaza to attend the event."
This is not a description of logistics. It is a documented restriction on movement, named by CPJ and reported by every outlet that covered the ceremony.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, November 22 2024 · Getty Images photo caption, Dia Dipasupil, November 21 2024 · The Bulrushes, November 24 2024
Her own words. Played in a video. To the room. In her absence.
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She could not be in the room. So her voice was played to it instead.
A video of Shrouq Al Aila was played at the ceremony in place of her physical presence.
In it she explained the choice she made after October 22 2023: not to step back, but to take on the role her late husband had built.
Her recorded words: "I decided to continue Roshdi's work because I believe once you are a journalist, you are a journalist for life."
CPJ's footage shows her walking two to three hours daily to reach places in Gaza where she reports. The room in New York heard her voice. They did not see her in person. That was not her choice.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, November 22 2024, video statement · Tattva News, November 23 2024
CPJ's own commitment. On the public record.
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CPJ said it would hold the award until she could come to New York to receive it in person.
In its formal statement, CPJ wrote: "CPJ stands with Shrouq and will hold on to this award until she is able to come to New York to receive it in person. She and her colleagues must be protected."
As of late 2025, reporting confirmed she still had not received the award in person, more than a year after the ceremony.
The award itself, physically, sits in New York. The person it was given to remains in Gaza.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, November 22 2024, full statement · No Frontiers News, November 19 2025, "she could not attend"
CPJ's own count. Named period. On record.
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At least 141 journalists and media workers killed since October 7 2023. The deadliest period CPJ has recorded.
According to figures maintained by the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 141 journalists and media workers were killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Israel in the period following October 7 2023.
CPJ describes this as the deadliest period for journalists since it began gathering data.
Shrouq Al Aila's husband is one name in that count. Ain Media's founding partner Yaser Murtaja was murdered by an Israeli sniper in 2018, years before this war began.
Source: Columbia Journalism Review, "Q&A: Shrouq Aila on documenting a televised genocide," December 18 2024, citing CPJ figures
The question. Not a claim.
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A press freedom award, named in New York, for a journalist in Gaza. She could not collect it. What does press freedom mean if the press cannot travel to receive it?
Shrouq Al Aila is still in Gaza. Still reporting. Ain Media is still operating. The award named for her courage is still in New York, waiting. CPJ said it will wait too.
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