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09-12-2023
GAZA CITY: The BBC’s Rushdi Abualouf, who has reported from Gaza for decades, left the territory with his family on 20 November for the sake of their safety. It was six weeks after the Hamas attacks on southern Israel that has led to weeks of Israeli bombardment within Gaza. He is now in Istanbul, Turkey. Speaking on the BBC’s Newshour program, he described how it felt to leave his home and observe Gaza from the outside.
My family and I grew up in Gaza, we were born in Gaza.
I really feel sad that I have had to leave in this way.
I have a memory from every corner of my house, and from every corner of my neighborhood.
The rest of my wife’s family her father, mother and brother are still there, while my father, brothers and sisters also remain in Gaza.
To be honest, it’s more difficult for me to watch Gaza from the outside, because when I was there, inside the enclave, I was busy dealing with too many things and not thinking about the situation in the Strip.
Now, when you are out, you have more time to think. And it’s very hard for me to imagine that I will no longer see my house or sleep in my bed, and I will no longer see my neighbors and my neighborhood.
Since we left for Istanbul, we were told that our home was destroyed. I mean the whole building, the whole neighborhood was destroyed.
Some of my BBC Arabic colleagues are still there. I met them all one night before I left because I wasn’t sure about the timing, and there was a surprise call in the night telling me to leave.
I told them I would do everything I could to get them out.
“Be strong and work together, the BBC is very proud of you, the BBC will do everything possible to protect you and try to get you out,” I told them.
I’ve called them every morning since I left Gaza. I’m always with them, always advising them, helping them solve every problem they are facing in their location or with their family, and hopefully they will be out soon.
My family had a chance to leave right at the beginning.
When Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October, my first call was to the BBC to tell them what happened.
The second was to my wife.
I said to her: “Please prepare your bag, you have to leave Gaza now.” I was expecting a very big retaliation from Israel, and the Rafah crossing was still open for the first couple of days after the Hamas raids. (BBC)
