Gaza — Israel killed journalist 13 days after his wedding

Abdul Raouf Shaath was in no hurry to begin the rest of his life, but death was quicker. Extermination in Gaza is still at full swing.

Just days earlier, he had been trying on his wedding suit in a half-demolished house. He laughed and said that war should not postpone joy forever. He did not know that joy in Gaza it is not allowed to last.

On the morning of his martyrdom, Abdul Raouf went out as he did every day: camera on his shoulder, a quiet worry in his heart, and one purpose in his mind — to show the world what was happening. He did not go out to fight or to flee, but to work.

He was with his colleagues Mohammed Qashta and Anas Ghoneim, on their way to document the lives of displaced people who had lost their homes. Then the bombing came without warning. There was no time to escape. A single moment turned life into breaking news.

Journalism in Gaza has become a death sentence

Abdul Raouf did not just die suddenly; he was torn from his future. From a married life that never began. And a home not yet filled with his voice. From modest dreams that asked for the bare minimum: safety, work, mornings without bombing.

His wife, who had not yet memorised his daily routine, will learn it through absence. She will recognise his voice from video clips. She will speak of him in the past tense before ever sharing life with him in the present.

His colleagues remember him as a journalist who did not film from a distance. He moved closer, until the pain was visible. He knew images could be exhausting, but at least they did not lie. Perhaps that is why he was killed. In Gaza, truth is not neutral, and witnesses often pay first.

In this city, journalists are not killed by accident. They are killed because they insist on being present.

Abdul Raouf Shaath was not given time to say goodbye, nor to begin. He went out to tell the stories of others, and became the most brutal story himself.

The story of a young man who got married, then was martyred — with not a lifetime in between, but only days.

Featured image via Facebook