‘I Feel Helpless’: BBC Journalist Tears Up During Gaza Coverage

BBC Arabic journalist Adnan Elbursh’s heart-wrenching report on Gaza is being widely shared online, after he highlighted the emotional toll suffered by journalists on-the-ground in a warzone.

“Today has been one of the most difficult days in my career,” he said. “I have seen things I can’t ever unsee.”

He begins: “Here in Al Shifa Hospital, bodies lay everywhere, the injured scream for help. You can never forget these sounds.”

While touring the hospital, Elbursh’s cameraman Mahmood recognises his friend Malik among the casualties.

“Malik has managed to survive, but his family have not,” recounts Elbursh, adding that “this is my local hospital, inside are my friends, my neighbours. This is my community.”

Elbursh described the devastation of seeing a young girl: “This young girl’s home was destroyed, her relatives have been killed, and she needs help. My daughter is the same age. I want to give her a hug.”

The corridors of Al-Shifa were described as overflowing with bodies, and the morgue was at its capacity. “The bodies of the dead have to be laid on the floor outside the hospital,” Elbursh detailed.

One of the grieving mothers, Um Mohammed, shared her harrowing story: “We were sleeping and they bombarded our house like everyone else. We don’t have any resistance fighters in our building. All the buildings are full of residents, 120 people live there.”

Elbursh concluded his report with a poignant reflection, “You never want to become the story. Yet in my city, I feel helpless as the dead are given no dignity and the injured are living in pain.”

According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least 1,500 people have been killed in Gaza, with 6,600 wounded. In Israel, following Hamas attacks, the death toll has risen to more than 1,200.