Mohammed Asad is a multi-award winning photo-journalist with 7 international photography awards; including Winner of the World Humanitarian Photo Summit. Nearly three years after his home was completely destroyed in the Gaza war of summer 2014, we ask - where is he now?
“I lived in Shijaeya the eastern neighbourhood in Gaza city. Israeli bombardments destroyed all 50 houses in our residential neighbourhood. After a long time, during the brief truce, I was able to reach my home. The piles of stones I found were indistinguishable from my neighbours pile of stones. I stood for a minute in shock. I discovered that the F16 had hit the house and then tanks had rolled over it during the land invasion. We lost everything”
In our exclusive interview Mohammed granted us an insight into the struggles of life in Gaza and how anyone, regardless of where they stand in society, is vulnerable. Mohammed shared with us his and his family’s bravery at overcoming the trials of losing their home and possessions; but never giving up.
Read on for the full interview:
What did you do after the offensive stopped? During the truce we returned to where the house was only to find a pile of stones. I went daily with a small axe to try to clear the rubble. I was searching for the awards that I had built my career on. I reached a stage of frustration and could only find four certificates and a broken award.
Where are you living now? Have you had to move to another city? My destroyed home was 1km away from the green line and in a very dangerous location. Myself, wife and two children now rent a home in mid Gaza.
How can you work now and continue your message? I am still working as a freelance photo-journalist; albeit with the bare minimum equipment as it was destroyed when our house was hit. I persevere, as a matter of national and moral duty, to continue to show the ugliness of the occupation under which I am forced to live.
What reconstruction work has been done in Gaza so far? The offensive partially demolished more than 40,000 homes after the war of 2014 and a lot of these have been repaired. However, over 11,000 homes were completely destroyed and after 3 years less than half have been repaired using funds from Qatar, Germany, Italy and international support. From what I know, over 6,000 families are still waiting to rebuild their homes, almost all of them without any rent allowance. Broken promises from the Cairo conference in October 2014 mean a lot of families have lost hope of ever having their homes rebuilt.
What are the plans for your future? The Israeli tanks destroyed most of my photography equipment and crushed all my awards and certificates making this career even harder. All I can say inside the big prison (Gaza) is that we hope there won’t be a new war or the problem will only grow and more houses will be destroyed adding to the numbers of displaced civilians. I will continue working to tell the world of the injustices occurring in Palestine. It is difficult to plan for the future whilst this siege lasts.
What do you see as the solution to the occupation in Gaza? Palestine is the only occupied state in the world and its people are struggling to liberate and defend it alone. It will return to freedom one day like other Arab nations liberated from foreign colonialism. Algeria lost 1 million citizens trying to achieve their freedom. We are hopeful that people will stand with us as foreign solidarity is growing. Unfortunately, Palestine receives very little attention in mainstream media.
Is there something that our readers can do to help you if they want? I am an internationally accredited journalist and just want for my photos and stories to reach the world to tell people what is going on here. Most of Palestine’s journalists suffered during the war, seventeen were killed, others were wounded, their houses were destroyed or they lost family members and neighbours. Sadness dominated everyone.
All we want to do is to continue working so please follow my work and spread the word. These are my Facebook and instagram accounts with a huge collection of photos under occupation. Please take a look.
Click to read more about the extent of destruction during the 2014 Gaza war
The following photos are a small selection from Mohammed Asad's incredible collection:
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Mohammed’s winning photo from the World Humanitarian Summit photography competition[/caption]
Broken awards after Mohammed's home was destroyed[/caption]
Two Palestinians meet to buy one pair of shoes[/caption]
