GAZA: Journalists Under Fire
Directed by Robert Greenwald
48 min. Brave New Films, 2025
For more than two years now, journalism has been a deadly profession in Gaza. The documentary Gaza: Journalists Under Fire produced by Brave New Films is a testament to this fact. The documentary highlights the work of Palestinian journalists in Gaza and their murders by Israel, specifically Bilal Jadallah, Heba Al-Abadla, and Ismail Al-Ghoul. It weaves together testimony from those speaking out against injustice, facts about U.S. facilitation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and the stories of the three Palestinian journalists who make up the core of the documentary.
Gaza: Journalists Under Fire opens with the horrifying reality that 178 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza by Israel. As of October 20, 2025, the number of slain Palestinian journalists has now risen to 254 according to the Gaza Government Media Office. Often, journalists in Gaza are killed while reporting. As the documentary repeatedly exposes, Israel is killing journalists intentionally because, as Omar Shakir states, journalists provide one of the “few windows into the reality of Gaza.” Abubaker Abed, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza now living in Ireland, says, “press vests mark us as a target.”
In addition, the documentary features compelling commentary from: Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s Israel Palestine Director; Jodie Ginsberg, Committee to Protect Journalists’ Chief Executive Officer; Francesca Albanese, United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories; Johnathan Dagher, Reporters Without Borders’ Head of Middle East Desk; and, Bel Trew, The Independent’s Chief International Correspondent.
The documentary’s first “target” is Bilal Jadallah, the founder of Press House Palestine. Press House Palestine was an independent umbrella organization for Palestinian journalists in Gaza which, during the Gaza genocide, provided safety equipment to journalists and allowed them to use its office spaces. On November 19, 2023, while attempting to move south from Gaza City, Bilal was killed by an Israeli tank shell.
Press House Palestine is another casualty of Israel’s genocide on Gaza. It has been reduced to rubble, like 90% of Gaza today. A colleague said of Bilal’s killing, “[Israel] aimed to silence his voice, bury the truth, and to destroy the Press House and what it stands for, just as it destroyed all signs of life in Gaza.” Bilal, who in the words of Jodie Ginsberg, “helped us to document this deadly pattern of journalistic killing” was killed for telling the truth.
Israel also silenced Heba Al-Abadla, co-founder of Social Media Club Palestine, an organization that trained youth to use social media effectively. Heba is remembered by her friends and surviving family as a mother, a journalist, and a dreamer. After surviving nine days without water, electricity, or food, she was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Al-Satar Al-Gharbi area, north of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. This Israeli strike killed more than 50 other members of her family, including her mother and daughter Joody. In a Facebook post, Heba wrote: “Hello world, why are you silent? Who silenced you?” Her post and the questions she posed were ignored by those with the power to stop the genocide. This silence allows Israel to continue to kill journalists without being held accountable.
Ismail Al-Ghoul, the last journalist featured in Gaza: Journalists Under Fire was the eyes and ears of Al Jazeera Arabic in Gaza before Israel assassinated him. Israel followed him, called him repeatedly asking him to stop his journalistic work, and then targeted his press vehicle, beheading him with a missile that also killed his camera man, Rami Al-Refee. Ismail worked tirelessly documenting Israel’s many crimes in Gaza. The documentary shows Ismail covering the dire situation of hospitals in Gaza, including workers tending to injured people on floors due to severe overcrowding. It also shows his coverage of the “flour massacre,” where Israeli forces open fire on desperate Palestinians trying to get food. The Israeli military killed over 100 Palestinians and wounded many more in that attack.
Ismail asks, “What is the world waiting for?” This is a common sentiment repeated in the documentary. My friends and surviving family still in Gaza ask me this question too.
It is important to note that other prominent journalists shown mourning Ismail Al-Ghoul in the documentary have now also been killed by Israel, namely Hossam Shabat and Anas Al-Sharif. I believe that the timing of the killing of Anas Al-Sharif was calculated by Israel. Israel chose to kill him just before its invasion of Gaza City, allowing the Israeli military to commit atrocities in relative darkness.
Journalists like Ismail, Hossam, Anas, Heba, and Bilal covered Israel’s bombings and campaign of starvation, telling the stories of Palestinians in Gaza in hope of creating international outrage. Their coverage has been the catalyst the few times Israel has allowed a few crumbs of international aid in.
Beyond their professional impact, the documentary reminds viewers that these Palestinian journalists, like the tens of thousands of other Palestinians killed in Gaza, were beloved family members. We see the cheerful footage of Heba celebrating her daughter’s birthday with her family. We watch Ismail exchanging laughs with his daughter Zaina. Malak, the wife of Ismail Al-Ghoul, shares that Zaina asks about her father all the time and wants to go to heaven to see her dad.
The documentary refutes the Israeli propaganda claiming that journalists killed by Israel have militant ties. Bel Trew says, there is a “pattern” of Israel making such allegations while “providing no credible evidence or no evidence at all.”
Importantly, Gaza: Journalists Under Fire correctly situates the United States as a partner in genocide. We learn that 70% of Israel’s weapons come from the United States. The murders of Bilal, Heba, and Ismail were most likely carried out with U.S. weapons. While everyone around the world should bear witness to the stories of these journalists, those living in the United States have a particular responsibility.
Gaza: Journalists Under Fire leaves no room to doubt the reality of life in Gaza. 90% of Gaza is destroyed. Israel’s mass killing of journalists in Gaza is purposeful. The silence left in the wake of the killings of these brave truthtellers allows Israel to continue to commit genocide in relative darkness, away from the cameras of those most qualified to capture the horror.
But, although Israel has killed many talented and courageous journalists, many still carry on the mission of reporting. Every time Israel kills a journalist, another is born. Palestinians in Gaza feel a collective responsibility to tell their story, and many are turning on their cameras and recording their realities. In this way, every Palestinian in Gaza is Ismail, Heba, and Anas.
