This week, Climate Beat features a guest article from the Palestinian journalist Mohammed Al-Sawwaf, whose extraordinary climate work we’ve featured before. Publishing Al-Sawwaf’s eyewitness account of the material deprivations and psychological dilemmas facing reporters in Gaza is intended as an act of solidarity and support for press freedom and journalists’ safety at a time when both are under attack around the world.
It is midnight in Gaza. The drones never leave the sky — we call them zannana — for the way their zzzzzz drills into our heads. Explosions roll from the next neighborhood with every airstrike on homes, or when a remotely operated ground vehicle — an unmanned robot packed with explosives — is steered between buildings and detonated.
On the street below my window, a truck waits under the cones of flashlights, stacked with what remains of my neighbors’ lives: mattresses, blankets, and wooden furniture pried apart for firewood — the only fuel left after nearly two years without gas or diesel. They are leaving again — for the eighth time in nearly two years of war.
I sit in an unfinished apartment, its walls still pitted with holes from helicopter gunships and drone fire. I rented it after being displaced from the east of the city. Now it shelters three families from my relatives. Together we debate whether to join the convoys heading south. I am certain every family in Gaza is having the same conversation.
This is the rhythm of life here: displacement after displacement, death after death, with no time for mourning — only desperate attempts to save whoever is left.
I have lost more than sixty‑five relatives in this war: my mother and father, four siblings, and their children. Two of my brothers were journalists — one worked with an international news agency; the other was a filmmaker I collaborated with. I myself have been wounded twice. Journalism here is no longer a profession. It is a deadly gamble. In nearly two years, Israel has killed about 250 of our colleagues — journalists, filmmakers, and media workers — in Gaza.
At dawn on September 20, 2025, before I could finish writing these words, our neighbors from the Jammala family were killed. I have known them since I was thirteen, when they raised their building beside ours. They lived by selling meat and running a small grill restaurant; their kebab was famous, and they were generous, sharing food with the poor.
For the past two years their restaurant had been closed, as meat and most basic foods were barred.
The only time we tasted meat or eggs was during the brief two‑month ceasefire at the start of 2025, when limited supplies were briefly allowed in before being choked off again.
I remember Mahmoud — who died with his children in the bombing — telling me he had never imagined his kids would grow up craving the grilled meat their family once made for everyone.
Their building was flattened. Most of the dead were children. One woman lost her husband, Mahmoud, and their three children; if she survives, she will live with one leg. His younger brother, Khaled, lost his wife and all his children and will live alone. Their only “crime,” as it is, was refusing to flee again. Their home stood beside mine, which was destroyed twenty‑two months earlier, when most of my family were killed in the same way — because they stayed. That night I had been sleeping beside my parents when they were torn apart. The blast threw me several meters. My relatives found me by following the sound of my moaning under the rubble.
Journalists and filmmakers also have families. Many have begun fleeing south in search of a safety that does not exist. I fear no one will remain to document what happens, and we will die in silence — as the perpetrators intend. Every day we wrestle with the same question: Do we stay, cameras open, and accept the risk of death? Or do we flee with our families, knowing there is no safe place even in the south?
Israel has barred foreign journalists and filmmakers from entering Gaza, ensuring that little besides its account can leave. Here, the camera itself is treated as a target. Neighbors sometimes fear hosting us, worried they will be bombed simply for sheltering a journalist. Yet this danger only deepens our sense of duty: if we are silent, only the voice of the oppressor will remain. Our responsibility is to record, to insist that people here are not numbers but human beings, with lives and stories that deserve to be told.
Daily survival collides with this duty. We line up with our children to fill water jugs — our ration for the day — sometimes urging them forward because they are small enough to slip through the crowd before the truck’s tank runs dry. I never imagined my children would live like this: constant fear of death, collecting water, chopping wood, lighting fires to cook, charging phones, searching markets for whatever food might be found. This is the war of daily details.
Meanwhile, I rush to document a bombed home, a displaced family, or a child who lost both parents. I search for an internet signal to upload raw footage or to connect with my colleague Salah, who managed to escape Gaza with his family at the start of the war, so we can edit a film together. We have lived without electricity for nearly two years, our offices destroyed; new equipment, spare parts, and even basics that keep us working — batteries, lenses, and the like — are barred. Still, we record. We keep footage raw and make only light edits. Here, stories tell themselves; a little editing is enough.
Some of our films have reached international festivals and won awards. While audiences abroad watch them, we run between bombings, hunt for bread amid deliberate starvation, bury loved ones, and fight off despair. I often wonder how we are still enduring.
Yes, our films may cross borders and break the siege, while we remain trapped — running from one airstrike to the next, or buried under the rubble. I often tell my colleagues: If the world cannot stop the genocide against us, then at least let it carry our stories. We may not be able to protect our lives, but we can fight to ensure our story is told. And if we are killed, then those who survive must hold on to life so they can carry our story forward.
Gaza is not only breaking news, not only ruins, not only hunger. It is voices, souls, and human dignity demanding recognition. If those who kill intend silence, our obligation is the opposite: to record. We may not be able to save our bodies. But we can protect the record of our lives — and refuse to vanish without a witness.
CCNow partners are invited to republish Mohammed Al-Sawwaf’s piece.
From Us
COP30 Webinar. Join three Brazilian reporters for a one-hour discussion about how they’re gearing up to cover the upcoming UN climate summit on Thursday, October 9, at 12pm EST. We’ll also hear about a unique opportunity for global newsrooms to access a live feed of COP coverage, organized by Brazilian reporters intimately familiar with the Amazon. RSVP…
Radar Clima es el nuevo boletín de CCNow en español, diseñado para ayudarte a profundizar en temas climáticos en todas las áreas de la redacción. Cada dos semanas te propondremos un tema con ideas para cubrirlo, recursos y contactos de expertos. Suscríbete aquí.
“Petrichor.” Following CCNow’s newsmaker interview with Jon Batiste about the climate song he wrote to mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged his hometown of New Orleans, the global music star has released a new video that CCNow partners are welcome to embed in their 89 Percent Project reporting. In the interview, Batiste said he is part of the 80 to 89% of the world’s people who want governments to take stronger climate action, and he performed a live version of the song, “Petrichor,” which he explains further in this post on his website.
89 Percent Project. Are you an outlet looking for freelancers to pitch stories on the 89 Percent theme? Would you be interested in receiving pitches covering 89 Percent stories? Let us know! Email us at editors[at]coveringclimatenow.org or just hit reply to this email.
Quote of the Week
– A tweet from Gitanjali Angmo, wife of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, in response to the Indian government’s arrest of her husband last week amid charges that he has “links” with Pakistan after he attended a UN climate conference there.
Noteworthy Stories
Protecting nature. UNESCO has designated 26 new biosphere reserves, including forests, savannahs, and estuaries, in 21 countries, and instituted a 10-year strategic action plan that includes studying the effects of climate change in the reserves — 785 sites in 142 countries, designated since 1971 — that are “home to some of the planet’s richest and most fragile ecosystems.” By Tammy Webber for the Associated Press…
Orwell alert. The US Department of Energy sent a memo to employees in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) instructing them to avoid “any terminology that you know to be misaligned with the Administration’s perspectives and priorities,” including “climate change.” By Dharna Noor for The Guardian…
Pope climate speech. On Wednesday, the Pontiff delivered his first address on climate change at a conference taking place at the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo calling for a “true ecological conversion… that transforms both personal and communal lifestyles.” By Brian Roewe for National Catholic Reporter’s EarthBeat…
Soaring power bills. Data centers are crucial in the global race to dominate AI development, but “wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers,” and US customers are paying the price. By Josh Saul, Leonardo Nicoletti, Demetrios Pogkas, Dina Bass, and Naureen Malik for Bloomberg Technology…
- In the US, more than half the power is coming from fossil fuels. By Evan Gorelick for The New York Times…
- “The AI-driven boom in data centers is putting growing demands on water in California and the Southwest.” By Ian James at the Los Angeles Times…
- Tech companies are forfeiting climate commitments with a “rationalization… [that] if we get AI right, it could solve climate change.” By Brittany Luse for NPR’s It’s Been a Minute…
Where’s the beef? Data analysis by Sentient Media, a CCNow partner, finds that less than 4% of climate news stories mention animal agriculture as a source of carbon emissions despite the fact that “food and agriculture contribute one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, second only to the burning of fossil fuels.” By Joe Fassler for The Guardian…
Resources & Events
Tracking Climate Rollbacks. This free Poynter webinar teaches journalists how to track US federal climate policy rollbacks and their local impacts. Tune in live at 1pm EST on October 16 to discover how to turn climate policy changes into stories your readers care about. RSVP.
Tracking NDCs. The latest round of national climate commitments — known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) — will define the pace and ambition of global efforts through 2035. Join the World Resources Institute and Climate Watch on October 9 at 9am EST (3pm CEST) to learn how to use CW’s NDC Tracker to track and evaluate new NDCs in real time. RSVP.
China’s NDC. Carbon Brief hosted a webinar last week with China climate policy experts to analyze the country’s updated NDC and “what [it] means for China’s emissions pathway, whether China will issue ambitious climate policies in the future, and how it will affect global efforts to accelerate the energy transition.” Watch.
COP30 Training. The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, in partnership with Amazônia Vox, is offering journalists a new free online course, “Climate Journalism and COP30: From Science to Local Solutions and Fighting Disinformation,” from October 13 to 26. Learn more.
The Fifth National Climate Assessment, which was released by the US Global Change Research Program in 2023 and taken offline by the Trump administration in early 2025, is back online (hosted by Climate.us). The assessment is the most recent state of the science report on climate change impacts and risks to the US.
Jobs & Fellowships
CNN’s Climate & Weather team is seeking a Live Video Producer (Atlanta, Ga.). Mongabay Latam is seeking a production assistant for journalistic projects (Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru).
The McGraw Fellowship for Business Journalism provides experienced journalists with grants up to $15,000 and the editorial support needed to produce deeply reported enterprise and investigative stories with a strong economic, financial, or business angle. Apply by October 13.
The Online News Association is accepting applications for its Women’s Leadership Accelerator 2025 cohort. Participants will receive leadership training, coaching, and support. Apply by October 3.