16 July 2024
Gaza : Palestinian cartoonist Safaa Odah’s cry for help
Palestinian cartoonist Safaa Odah writes to us from the Gaza Strip to implore our help. Displaced by the war with her sister several times, she lives in a tent “in a place not suitable for life” and reports the climate of total insecurity in which she lives, in addition to the constant bombardments. Her words reflect the appalling tragedy suffered by Palestinian civilians. As Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, pointed out, “nothing can justify the abhorrent 7 October terror attacks by Hamas. And nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
Safaa Odah evokes the scarcity and pollution of water, the absence of electricity, cleanliness, food, medical services and medicines, and conditions that deteriorate daily under suffocating heat. She has to travel long distances to access the Internet and connect with the world by sharing her cartoons, which bear powerful witness to the daily tragedy experienced by civilians.
“We are innocent people who do not want this war and we only want to live safe place, in peace.” Now she can’t draw anymore, which kills hope and inspiration.
Every effort must be made to protect journalists and media professionals wherever they may be in Gaza, where more than 100 journalists have been killed since the start of one of the deadliest conflicts for the press. Cartooning for Peace calls for the support and protection of Palestinian cartoonist Safaa Odah, alongside her fellow journalists.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stresses the need to protect Gaza’s reporters : those who wish to do so must be evacuated, and the territory’s gates must be opened to the international media.
On July 11, 2024, over 70 international media and civil society organizations published an open letter coordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), recalling the heavy toll paid by Palestinian journalists and calling on the Israeli authorities to allow foreign media “immediate and independent access” to the besieged Gaza Strip after nine months of war.
