‘It’s Ahmad, I’m alive’ – The four words that went viral as I showed the world the reality of Gaza

Israel told us to leave our area because they planned to bomb it, writes Ahmad Ghunaim. A whole week passed and nothing happened, so my family and I returned home. Then missiles hit our house with us all inside...

Ahmad Ghunaim in his ‘bedroom’ in Gaza after the bombing (Ahmad Ghunaim)

On 7 March 1999 I took my first breath on this planet. I was blessed with a great childhood, and I dreamed of becoming a travel vlogger. But this dream was unreachable, because I live in the world’s largest open-air prison, Gaza, where travel is almost impossible.

I started painting the suffering of the Palestinian people and the beauty of my country. At the end of 2014, my artwork and hopes were destroyed after the Israeli occupation bombed our house and all my paintings disappeared. I remember that day well – I stood in front of the rubble of the house and cried over my paintings.

That’s when I decided to start vlogging – creating something no one could destroy. I couldn’t fulfil my dream of being a travel vlogger, so I decided to travel within Gaza instead; showing its beauty and rich history.

Even though my social media accounts have been deleted four times, I return again to keep filming these places. No matter what Israel does – no matter how many communication blackouts – they cannot erase what is engraved in our hearts. We will never forget our history.

‏On 7 October 2023, the war on Gaza began and everything was turned upside down. I was forced instead to become a war journalist to show the world what was – and still is – happening in Palestine.

‏In the first days, the Israeli occupation told us to leave our area in the north because they planned to bomb it, so all the people of the area left and were displaced to another area. The first day passed, then the second, then the third...

A whole week passed and nothing happened. My family and I returned home. Just a few days later, our house was bombed over our heads while we were inside.

This was one of the most difficult moments of my life. I didn’t know what had happened to me and my life flashed before my eyes. Was my family OK? Were they still alive? I didn’t know the answer. I was in a state of pure shock.

‏After a few minutes, I realised what was going on and I tried to find my family. Some of them were in the streets, some in hospitals, some stuck under rubble. Praise be to God, my family and I survived.

My social media followers tracked my movements daily and I would let them know that – for that moment at least – I was OK, by posting the same four words: ‘It’s Ahmad, I’m alive’.

Days passed without shelter. We searched everywhere for a house or a shelter to stay in, but even the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) schools were full of other displaced people, and we became homeless.

We tried to carry on living. We queued for hours to get food and water, sometimes going without either for days at a time. We ran out of fuel and had to burn our books to light a fire to make food. We lived through things you can’t even imagine.

‏Eventually, I sheltered in al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, documenting everything happening there, because it is my duty to speak up and deliver our message to the world. Conditions worsened by the minute. We slept on the cold hard ground for months.

Then the Israeli occupation advanced towards the hospital, forcing me to the south in Khan Younis, to Nasser Hospital with my best friend, Ahmed Masood. We stayed there for a few days, but we quickly realised we were far from safe there, and were displaced once again to Rafah, the far south of Gaza.

We slept in the car for weeks before we found tents. I stayed in Rafah for more than three months and became ill with a hernia that couldn’t be treated because of the lack of medication available. If I didn’t die from the bombs, I would die from my illness. So I made the hardest decision of my life – to leave Gaza by any means possible.

After two months of trying, I was able to evacuate to Egypt. I was shocked by what I saw there. I spent 126 days in war, suffering, destruction, sadness and oppression – and yet life in Egypt was continuing as if nothing was happening in Gaza.

I decided to leave and travel to South Africa to settle there. I chose this country over all the countries in the world because it was the first country that tried to do something for us Palestinians, by bringing the case of genocide against Israel to the International Court of Justice.

‏I’m here in South Africa, I’m safe, but my family and 2.2 million other Gazans are not. Just because I am safe, my mission has not changed – to spread our story and the reality of what is taking place in my home country.

‏This is me and this is my story. It’s Ahmad, I’m alive.

Ahmad Ghunaim is a 24-year-old Palestinian travel vlogger. His documentary ‘Ahmad Alive’ is hosted by www.seen.tv