Anas Baba movies a video of himself in Gaza.
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Anas Baba movies a video of himself in Gaza.
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Anas Baba is NPR’s eyes and ears on the bottom in Gaza.
He is additionally one of many solely Palestinian journalists working full time for an American information group in Gaza. Israel has banned worldwide journalists from unbiased entry to the territory all through this struggle. However Baba is from Gaza Metropolis, and he selected to remain and report when the struggle started.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel, killing practically 1200 individuals and taking 251 others hostage. Israel’s navy responded instantly. Gaza’s Well being Ministry says greater than 48,000 individuals have been killed by Israeli hearth — greater than half girls and kids. The territory has been decimated by Israeli airstrikes. Greater than 90% of all houses at the moment are broken or destroyed in Gaza. Individuals are residing in makeshift tents atop the rubble of their houses or sheltering in lecture rooms and college courtyards, with out operating water or electrical energy.

A younger boy surveys the harm to his neighborhood in Gaza after a lethal Israeli airstrike on Nov. 17, 2024.
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A younger boy surveys the harm to his neighborhood in Gaza after a lethal Israeli airstrike on Nov. 17, 2024.
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A younger man takes a selfie amid the destruction in Gaza.
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A younger man takes a selfie amid the destruction in Gaza.
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A boy mourns kinfolk killed in Israeli airstrikes on central Gaza’s Nuseirat neighborhood that killed 21 individuals, the youngest a 40-day-old child on Nov. 1, 2024.
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A boy mourns kinfolk killed in Israeli airstrikes on central Gaza’s Nuseirat neighborhood that killed 21 individuals, the youngest a 40-day-old child on Nov. 1, 2024.
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Baba has carried out important reporting on the bottom whereas additionally surviving a struggle in which Israel has killed a document variety of journalists, as documented by the Committee to Shield Journalists.
He has despatched dispatches from hospitals, displacement camps and bomb websites with little greater than a mobile phone. His eyewitness accounts and the audio he gathers have been essential for the crew of NPR reporters protecting the struggle from outdoors of Gaza — and for NPR listeners making an attempt to grasp the human toll of the struggle.
On January 19, 2025 a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into impact.
A few week later, Palestinians who’d been displaced to the south have been permitted to return to their houses within the north of Gaza. Baba was amongst them, returning residence to Gaza Metropolis after 15 months of displacement.

Palestinians pile on a truck carrying water as they return for the primary time in 10 months to the extensively destroyed southern metropolis of Rafah after a ceasefire comes into impact and Israeli forces withdraw from the realm on Jan. 19.
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Palestinians pile on a truck carrying water as they return for the primary time in 10 months to the extensively destroyed southern metropolis of Rafah after a ceasefire comes into impact and Israeli forces withdraw from the realm on Jan. 19.
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Palestinians drive a truck to Gaza Metropolis on Jan. 25.
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Palestinians drive a truck to Gaza Metropolis on Jan. 25.
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The native mosque in Anas Baba’s neighborhood in Gaza Metropolis sustained heavy harm.
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The native mosque in Anas Baba’s neighborhood in Gaza Metropolis sustained heavy harm.
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Only a few buildings are left standing in Gaza Metropolis.
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Only a few buildings are left standing in Gaza Metropolis.
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Take heed to The Sunday Story from NPR’s Up First podcast within the NPR App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode was reported and produced by Justine Yan. Extra manufacturing by Adelina Lancianese. Enhancing by Jennifer Schmidt. Truth-checking by Will Chase and engineering by Jimmy Keeley. Digital assist from Liana Simstrom. Our visible editor is Emily Bogle.
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