Today in Focus Escaping Gaza City, while reporting on its destruction
Sep 25, 2025
Malak A Tantesh, a courageous Gazan journalist for The Guardian, shares her harrowing experiences fleeing Gaza City amid destruction. She discusses her family's evacuation, life in refugee tents, and coping with famine while reporting on the crisis. Malak reflects on returning home to find her childhood memories reduced to rubble and the emotional weight of documenting suffering under constant danger. Her determination to tell the story of her homeland highlights both the resilience of Gazans and the profound impact of her work.
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Home Before The War
- Malak describes a three-storey home where she and her sisters shared one room and made memories through movies, dancing and studying together.
- She remembers a flower-filled garden where they rode bicycles and played sports, tying her identity to that childhood place.
Life In Tents And Finding Purpose
- Malak lived in plastic tents in Rafah and suffered heat, cold and disease, contracting hepatitis A with no treatment available.
- Working for The Guardian from Rafah gave her purpose and helped her cope with the misery of camp life.
Returning Home To Destruction
- After a ceasefire in January 2025, Malak and many families returned north hopeful to rebuild and found destroyed streets and occupied homes.
- They stayed in her grandparents' house but discovered soldiers had used it, leaving it dirty and marked, and then began cleaning and rebuilding.