The Tower Collapsed, Our Resolve Hasn’t
The Tower Collapsed, Our Resolve Hasn’t Wael Dahdouh | Al Jazeera Correspondent - Gaza
“The tower has collapsed; it has collapsed… it has collapsed.” I repeated the phrase; my words spontaneous and unrehearsed, but perfectly capturing the bitter reality for Palestinians. I had covered many wars before, but Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip in 2021 was truly a defining moment in my career; a moment of intense emotions. A few minutes earlier, I had been in a live position from a dangerous zone close to the northern border of the Strip, where the Israeli occupation forces were conducting air strikes. Many residential homes and a mosque had been destroyed in the area. But as we gathered eyewitness accounts, the studio presenter interrupted us to say that the Israeli forces had warned Al Jazeera to evacuate its offices. The tower, housing the Al Jazeera bureau as well as other international news agencies, would be their next target. At that moment, I felt as though a volcano had erupted deep within me. I cut the interview short and rushed towards the building. On the way, questions filled my mind; questions I didn’t have answers to. I was sure that only four colleagues were in the office – the others were either deployed or resting after long night shifts. As I thought about what those
four must have been doing, my train of thought was interrupted by a call from our news producer in the office, Khaled Lubbad. “Have you evacuated the office?” I asked. He confirmed that they had. “How about the equipment?” “We cleared what we could carry,” he replied. “The situation is really dire.” When the Israelis had started to target residential towers at the beginning of their aggression, I had decided to remove all of my important documents from the safe. I’d put them in two briefcases in my office, which I had locked, leaving the office key, along with my car keys, on the newsroom’s main desk. “Grab the keys from the main desk, get the two briefcases out and remove my car from the parking in the building’s basement,” I told Lubbad. Then I telephoned the cameraman, who is also my brother, and the driver. They were on their way to the office. When they arrived they went inside. I was afraid the Israelis would bomb the building while they were in it. They looked for my keys, but at first, couldn’t find them.
When they finally did, I told them: “Grab the two briefcases, the laptop and a small bag inside the first drawer in my desk. Stay on the line until you leave the building.” By the time I reached the tower, the staff were standing outside at a safe distance. But my brother wasn’t with them. He was still in the basement, retrieving my car. I rushed to the parking, took the keys from him and asked him to leave. He refused. The car would not start. I tried several times, but eventually gave up.
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