Fares Akram
@faresakram
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Journalist covering Gaza. Retweets not endorsement, etc.
Gaza via Toronto.
Joined June 2009
This is our farm in northern #Gaza before and after an Israeli warplane hit it. Here I quarantined to escape the virus, but it’s not the best place to take shelter from bombings. The current raids are a reminiscent of the 2008 war when an airstrike killed my father in this farm.
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Bad news spreads fast, and it lingers even when we hope it's not true. After 12 hours of uncertainty, the heartbreaking confirmation came: my three nieces and their father were lost in an Israeli airstrike on their #Gaza City home. May they rest in peace.
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Late Friday, I got distressing news that an Israeli airstrike hit the #Gaza house where 10s of my relatives lived. With no internet & phone connection, it took 12 hours to confirm that 18 of my extended family members lost their lives & 18 others remain trapped under the rubble.
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And now bombs could fall on our office. We ran down the stairs from the 11th floor and now looking at the building from afar, praying Israeli army would eventually retract.
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Sat. images show our farm in north #Gaza before & after. This lush place served as our refuge & safe haven, where we stayed during Covid. It's also the site where Israeli warplanes killed my father in 2009, & now, the IDF wiped out the groves. A diary from my time there is below:
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My cherished optometrist, always kind and humble, divided his time between his upscale store and European workshops. His passion for fashion and sunglasses was infectious. Today, he, his family, and his brothers’ families perished in an Israeli airstrike on their Gaza City home.
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Israel unleashed an aerial offensive on Gaza, killing at least 8 Palestinians, including Islamic Jihad commander, 5y/o girl, & wounding 44. This follows days of full Israeli closure on Gaza. There was no fire from Gaza before & during the 1st two hours into the Israeli operation.
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Latest update from that airstrike: 42 were killed, among them 16 women & 10 children. Digging up the rubble for people trapped beneath it is continuing 12 hours after the bombing.
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3:30 pm update: 37 Palestinians shot dead by Israeli fire Monday in Gaza, highest single day death toll since summer 2014 war.
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The last 1 to die by Israeli fire Friday is our friend and colleague, video journalist Yasser Mortaga. I saw him at the demonstration minutes before he was hit with a gunshot in the waist. RIP.
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#BreakingNews Israel’s military urges residents of east #Rafah (red areas) to evacuate to “expanded humanitarian area” (yellow) southwest of #Gaza Strip.
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While our lush citrus grove might offer some breathing space from the congestion and difficulties of city life, it’s no refuge. Read my story here from @AP
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Fatma, 19 months, waited over 3 months for Israeli permit to go to a Jerusalem hospital for treatment of a heart defect. She died last month at her #Gaza home and the permit never came. With @josephkrauss
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Children are being subjected to extensive trauma in Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. For some, it’s trauma they’ve seen repeatedly throughout their short lives. (from @AP)
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The sun sets over a clear Cairo sky as young men and women learn kayaking on the Nile River. Good evening!
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#Gaza's power plant shut down at noon as Israeli closure of crossings disrupts fuel supplies, further worsening a prolonged power shortage and leaving residents with only 4 hours of electricity a day in a sweltering summer.
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I haven’t spent more than a single night at my family’s farm on the northern edge of Gaza since an Israeli airstrike killed my father there more than a decade ago. But the arrival of the coronavirus has upended our notions of danger and refuge.
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How are displaced Gazans getting by after nearly 9 months? This sentence from an #UNRWA update says it all: “in one school hosting families in Deir al Balah, 14,000 people are sharing 25 toilets.”.
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Shortly after burying his wife, 2 children, & other family members who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, @AlJazeera’s @WaelDahdouh put his grief aside and bravely returns on the air to report on the ongoing #Gaza war.
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#Breaking: Early Tuesday Israeli airstrike in Gaza City kills 2 Palestinian journalists and seriously wounds a third.
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Residents of Nada, housing complex for +300 families in north #Gaza, visit what is left of their homes during pause. http://t.co/ZEYTuZbFUj.
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Egypt’s president orders border with Gaza to stay open through Ramadan. Rafah crossing is Gaza’s main gate to the outside world. It remained mostly closed since Hamas took over Gaza in 2007.
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Holding my breath, Israeli aircraft are about to hit a 9-story building 200 meters away from our Gaza office where we are staying. They knocked on its roof with three missiles from a drone meant to serve as a warning.
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Internet, mobile services in #Gaza are cut off again as of early Wednesday. Information and updates from Gaza are now scant.
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Tragic update: according to local reports, 6-year-old Hind Rajab, who called for help 12 days ago after Israeli gunfire hit the car she was traveling in and killed her aunt, uncle & 4 cousins, was found dead Saturday morning .
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There was NO ground invasion by Israeli troops in Gaza. The references to "ground troops" was to tell that they took part (with tank and artillery shells) alongside air force in attacking #Gaza.
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7 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire on the 2nd Friday of mass border protests. bringing death toll to 29 since March 30. Number includes 23 protesters.
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It took Ramez al-Masri 3 years to rebuild his home after it was destroyed in a 2014 Israeli offensive. When war returned to the area last week, it took just a few seconds for the house to be flattened again in an Israeli airstrike. Pix by @johnminchillo
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Doctors across the crowded coastal enclave are now reallocating intensive care unit beds and scrambling to keep up with a very different health crisis: treating blast and shrapnel wounds, bandaging cuts and performing amputations. With @IsabelDeBre
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1st day of Gaza mass border protest ends with 12 Palestinians killed, the deadliest day since the end of 2014 war.
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Eight bodies were dug out of Azzam’s building, 14 from the one next door. The dead included 89-year-old family patriarch Amin, his son Fawaz, 62, his grandson Sameh, 28, and his great-grandson, 6-month-old Qusai. My story with @karin_laub #Gaza
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Are the Israeli airstrikes following us? If you’re in Gaza City these days, no matter who you are, that’s an easy thing to believe. 3rd diary input about how covering a war at home is.
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APNewsAlert: Israeli warplanes have unleashed a series of heavy airstrikes at several locations of Gaza City.
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The wife and two children of Al-Jazeera’s chief Gaza correspond @WaelDahdouh have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nussirat refugee camp in central #Gaza Strip. @AJArabic.
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Sulaiman Tarazi, a dentist and beacon of hope in #Gaza, ran a charming seaside cafe. He and 17 other #Christians lost their lives in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza's Orthodox Church. Their dreams were cut short, and their community mourns. 🕊️💔 #GazaAttack
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This is how #Gaza looked like after daybreak Wednesday. Heavy, simultaneous and sudden Israeli airstrikes.
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Palestinian farmer discovers “the most beautiful mosaic floors” in Gaza, setting off excitement and calls by experts for protection. (from @AP)
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12 Palestinians, mostly women & children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike at a house in southern Gaza Strip, particularly in Al-Mawassi, the narrow sliver of land where the Israeli military has persistently deemed a “safe humanitarian zone.”.
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JOB ALERT! @AP is looking for a multi-format journalist to join its Gaza bureau as a photographer.
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Internet and cellular networks have been completely cut off from Gaza. @JawwalPal, the largest cellular operator, says Israeli bombing has cut off “the remaining international routes linking Gaza to the outside world.”.
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At 2 a.m. local time, just as the cease-fire took effect, frenzy life returned to the streets of Gaza. People went out of their homes, some shouting “Allahu Akbar” or whistling from balconies. Many fired in the air, celebrating the truce. (from @AP)
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We r here with journos feeling tense and gathering in the lobby after warning of nearby "big" strike received #Gaza
http://t.co/DnL0FHzN0H.
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@ustafa_ad شو مطالبك؟ العودة لما قبل اكتوبر ٧. طيب ليش عملت اكتوبر ٧؟ اخرس يا منبطح يا حيوان حماس تاج راسك.
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Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes early Monday. The airstrikes were heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed.
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Scroll down & check our immersive project on Gaza’s non-stop cycle of wars & their cost on residents. @adgeller @felipedana @joseffederman @josephkrauss @helenwieffering @MarjorieJMiller
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I’m thrilled that our @AP multimedia project in #Gaza, The Cost of War, won the Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Visual Journalism. I’m in awe of all my colleagues in Gaza, Jerusalem, and NY who took part in this immersive work. @felipedana @adgeller @joseffederman.
The Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Visual Journalism:. The Associated Press – “The Cost of War” @AP . #ScrippsHowardAwards @Newsy . Watch more:
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Israeli fighter jets have flattened a 12-story building in west #Gaza City, shortly after Hamas warned it will expand the range of its rocket fire in response to the targeting of buildings.
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A year passed since last Gaza war. Most of the +2,000 homes destroyed haven’t been rebuilt. They will eventually be rebuilt, but scars left by the loss of lives, hopes, and memories won’t heal.
Smoke rising from what was the building housing our @AP office in #Gaza moments after Israeli jets destroyed it. I and my colleagues evacuated safely, leaving behind our best memories. Thank you for all your wishes. I’m sorry I can’t respond to inquiries now as we are overwhelmed
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Israeli F16 warplanes hit 2 military sites near my home in northern Gaza, waking up my 2 daughters terrified :(.
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I was born & raised here. I have spent my career reporting on the blockade, the wars and astonishing resilience of my fellow Gazans. As tranquil as the farm is now, I cannot forget it was here where my father was killed by Israeli airstrike. (from @AP)
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On Friday, Israeli army said air/ground troops struck Gaza in seemingly the heaviest attacks yet. Masses of red flames illuminated the skies, the deafening blasts from the outskirts of Gaza jolted people awake. The strikes were so strong that ppl inside the city screamed in fear.
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In Gaza, a crowded coastal enclave of 2 million people, there are no air raid sirens or safe houses. Temporary United Nations shelters have come under attack in previous years of conflict. With @IsabelDeBre
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The wrenching details of Aisha’s last days have shined a light on Israel’s vastly complex and stringent system for issuing Gaza exit permits. (from @AP) with @IsabelDeBre
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When Afaf al-Najar arrived at the border on Sept. 21 she was turned back — not by Israel or Egypt, which have imposed a 14-year blockade on the Gaza Strip — but because of a male guardianship law enacted by the Islamic militant group Hamas. (from @AP)
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This unsubstantiated allegation attributed to the Israeli military’s chief of staff is patently false. There was not even a cafeteria in the building. Such baseless claims jeopardize the safety of AP journalists. #Gaza
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The beaches in Tel Aviv and Gaza City, just 70 kilometers (40 miles) apart, look out on the same cresting waves of the Mediterranean Sea. But on the sandy shore there are different worlds on opposite sides of a century-old conflict. (from @AP)
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"All of these lovely things have become a memory." Me and my AP colleague @joseffederman reflect on how things have been 6 months after the #Gaza war and the destruction of our office. @AP @APMiddleEast
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian Health Ministry says seven new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the Gaza Strip, putting the total at nine. @AP.
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Gaza may be the most challenging of all of UNRWA's operating areas. "Nowhere else are we the biggest service provider for the population of the entire territory," the agency’s Gaza director says. @AP
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Aya, 13, was killed tonight in airstrike at home in Rafah. Her 2 brothers were killed in Israeli shelling on the southern Gaza city Aug. 1.
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+ airstrikes in the south are deadlier because buildings there house 3 to 5 times more people, mostly those who have fled from the north, and the streets are more crowded.
The Israeli government told the Palestinians of northern Gaza to flee south, ostensibly for their safety, but "the bombing in the south is constant," too. "The strikes are everywhere."
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Israeli troops are pushing deeper into Khan Younis amid a hail of machine gunfire and shelling in several parts of the sprawling town, including bombardment at Al-Mawassi area, which is flooded with displaced.
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Food scarcity has led some of north Gaza residents to gather dwindling animal fodder — corn, wheat, barley — and grind it into flour. Others are venturing into abandoned farm fields to forage for wild greens like spinach, chard and sorrel.
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One month after the shooting of an Associated Press cameraman in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military still has not commented on the incident or provided any updates about the status of an investigation. (from @AP)
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Another Israeli F16 airstrike in #Gaza less than an hour after Palestinians announced renewal of ceasefire for 5 more days.
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Hamas releases Gaza peace activist Rami Aman, who was arrested in April for organizing a Zoom call with Israeli peers.
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Beautiful sunset marks the end of a bloody day on #Gaza fishing harbor, deserted since israeli military op. began http://t.co/OEMl8uHiIZ.
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Happy to see our @AP project “Cost of War”, which investigates the impact of 4 wars in #Gaza, is a finalist for the @ScrippsHowardFd Awards under Visual Journalism category. Winners to be announced on June 12. @adgeller @felipedana.
Congratulations to the finalists for the 69th Scripps Howard Awards. The finalists were selected from more than 800 entries across 15 categories. Watch the #ScrippsHowardAwards June 12 at 8/7c on @Newsy. Read more about the finalists: @ScrippsHowardFd
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Woke up unharmed. Now to the awful business of how many airstrikes, bombings in past hours, how many killed, how many are children. Hate it.
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Trying to cope with the full lockdown and curfew in #Gaza in the midst of hot summer nights, stifling humidity and just 4 hours of electricity a day.
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”These protests were the largest, the longest and the most violent in terms of Hamas’ suppression,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, political science professor at Gaza’s al-Azhar University. (from @AP)
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@TragedyJennifer @Starbucks This message, for 3rd day in a row, could be enough for a loyal customer not to come back any more
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A shell reportedly lands in the vicinity of Al-Shifa hospital and shrapnel hit Palestinians sheltering in the hospital’s courtyard in #Gaza City.
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@AP statement responding to a comment that Israel’s Channel 12 TV attributed to Israeli Military Chief of Staff saying that AP journalists drank coffee with Hamas electronics experts in the cafeteria of the building that housed AP’s former bureau in Gaza:
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Abbas vows further financial cuts on #Gaza if Hamas doesn't back off. He says lights are 24 hours on at Hamas leaders' houses and tunnels.
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Hamas authorities allow restaurants and cafes to reopen as Gaza has been largely spared from the virus “while taking precautions.” This is happening now at a hookah lounge.
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Aljazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa lost his life in an Israeli airstrike in southern #Gaza. He was wounded, left bleeding for 6 hours, with rescuers unable to evacuate him due to the intensity of the fire and a lack of proper coordination.
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Palestinian dies after Israeli bullet hit him in the head here. Death toll 23 since last Friday, including 17 protesters. 40 wounded today, among them 2 journalists.
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Rashed Rashid, 47, was hit in the leg Monday during a weekly protest next to the Israeli border. Doctors said he suffered multiple bone fractures above the ankle and would need surgery. -
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Israeli fire wounded a cameraman for the Associated Press news agency and 24 other Palestinians during protests Monday in northern Gaza. The cameraman was transferred to an Israeli hospital early Tuesday.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that some 200 militants were killed but has not provided any evidence backing up the figures.
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“Israel is effectively tightening its closure on Gaza under the guise of the pandemic,” says @Gisha_Access
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“Israeli police wanted to deny Abu Akleh’s family & the public from publicly grieving the national icon & journalistic hero because they didn’t want her funeral to serve as a reminder of the national cause for liberation, dignity & independence.”@AymanM.
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What was left from Gaza's airport, passenger stairs and boarding ramps, lie on patch of land in the city. http://t.co/XGJ1RwxZ5u.
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AP reopens Gaza bureau in a new location over a year after offices destroyed in an Israeli airstrike
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Palestinian leadership says it rejects attacks/violence against civilians from any source whatsoever. #TelAvivAttack.
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#Gaza siege is not lack of food or nuts, it's that you can't travel, you can't build a single room and you can't get electricity all day.
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