The name Plestia has been etched in our hearts over the past months. She is a 22-year-old woman bravely documenting the Israeli aggression on her home and neighbourhood in Gaza.

On January 10, Plestia delivered a sensational speech via video during an event in Dubai.

The translation is as follows…

“To be a content creator in Gaza means you yourself could become the content at any moment”

It means to wake up every single day – that is, if you even got any sleep – not knowing what is waiting for you.

Recommended

Irish Rock Band The Corrs Just Announced A Dubai Gig!Get Ready For Pakistani Music Goodness With Coke Studio Live In Dubai!AED 696 Million Trade Centre Transformation Project To Feature 5 New Bridges

You wake up, start looking around, and find yourself surrounded by corpses, body parts, children crying, mothers screaming, people praying at a funeral – yet all these scenes seem normal to me by now.

And in the middle of all this destruction, all these scenes, all the never-ending sound of bombs, I always tried to find stories that have hope.

I always tried to be close to people. I didn’t want to be someone who just filmed their story and left.

Of course every single person in Gaza has a story but I wasn’t able to cover all their stories, simply because our access to equipment was very limited. There were no batteries, no cameras, no phone chargers, so I never knew when I could charge my phone next. I used to film stories not knowing if I’ll have time to post it or die before I get the chance. Will I have internet to post it or not?

And every time I would check with the people I filmed, I would find that they’ve already moved on to another area.

of course there are no ways of contacting them, but often I would run into them because Gaza is very small.

So to be a content creator in Gaza means that at any moment, you yourself could become the content.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lovin Dubai | لوڤن دبي (@lovindubai)

This comes after the ICJ hearings of South Africa vs Israel

Today at the ICJ hearings of South Africa vs Israel, the unprecedented evidence put forward by South Africa was videos from social media, such as footage uploaded as Instagram reels by news outlets.

This has been a greater push for reliability and a need for citizen journalists everywhere.

READ NEXT: You Cannot Rely On Traditional Media For Your “Unbiased” News: Ex- NYT Journalist Confirms

Get the latest Dubai news direct to your phone RN! Download The Lovin Dubai app for free RIGHT HERE (App Store) (Play Store) to get the latest trending stories to your phone.

Subscribe to our Newsletter.

Get the best of your city straight to your inbox.