Israel wanted me to back down by killing my family | Wael al-Dahdouh

“People in Gaza were telling us, ‘Just nuke us and end this suffering.’”

Veteran Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh, the Gaza bureau chief of Al Jazeera, has endured loss at a scale most can’t grapple with.

In October 2023, while reporting live, Wael learned that an Israeli airstrike had killed his wife, two of his children, his grandson, and other relatives. Hours later, he returned to the air. Weeks later, he was wounded in an Israeli drone strike that killed his colleague Samer Abu Daqqa. Days after that, he lost another son, Hamza, also a journalist, killed by Israel.

Despite unimaginable loss, Wael continued reporting, becoming a symbol of courage, resilience, and commitment to truth, earning him the title “the mountain of Gaza.”

On Real Talk, Wael sat down with Mohamed Hashem to share his views of journalism as a mission, not a job; the unimaginable grief he carried while reporting; and the price Palestinian journalists pay in Gaza to show the world Israel’s crimes.