10 Questions with Mohamad Abu Shahma: Working — And Living — Inside Gaza as an Investigative Journalist

My first conversation with Mohamad Abu Shahma, an investigative journalist living in northern Gaza who has worked with ARIJ, Al Jazeera, and Daraj in the past, was when he shared an investigation he had conducted during the first month of the war in Gaza in October/November 2023.

The story was about the severe burns that Gazans had suffered after being subjected to Israeli airstrikes. Abu Shahma was also looking into claims that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had used banned weapons in targeting civilians in Gaza. Our conversation included a grim request: that I promote his work to the GIJN community, so that if he were killed, the world would continue to remember him and his reporting.

A native of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, from which he was displaced during the conflict, Abu Shahma has personally felt the toll of the war. Over the past seven months, he has lost dozens of close family members — including his brother, whose lifeless body he tragically discovered lying in the street — and his home was destroyed in an Israeli bombardment. In a time when prominent investigative journalism stories from Gaza heavily rely on geolocation, and remote open source reporting, Abu Shahma has investigated possible war crimes on the ground, demonstrating an unparalleled determination and resilience. In this interview, GIJN spoke with him about how he has managed to survive and work as a watchdog reporter under harrowing, life-threatening conditions.

GIJN: At the moment, journalism in Gaza involves immense risk, and there has been recent reporting that looked into claims that the IDF is targeting journalists. In general, how do you live and work in such an environment?

Mohamad Abu Shahma: In every step I take while working on an investigative report, I raise my eyes to the sky and listen to the horrifying sound of reconnaissance planes. The thought of a rocket falling from these planes haunts me, as dozens of journalists were killed during work missions. I also fear being critically injured, or arrested and taken to prison where other journalists have described being subjected to cruel interrogations. This makes me think through the investigation’s topic and the method of implementing it under the conditions of war.

My biggest fear is that my home could be targeted while my family is still inside and how guilty I would feel for the rest of my life. This risk drives me to reject some topics of investigative reports. I often spend the night outside my home, specifically in the hospital. I do this whenever I complete an investigative report, to ensure the safety of my family, children, and elderly mother.

GIJN: There is a consensus that investigative reporting in Gaza is very complicated right now, yet you have been able to produce several investigative reports on your own — and we will address some of them. How were you able to conduct your reporting, and what motivates you to continue?

Mohamad Abu Shahma is a native of Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip. Image: Courtesy of Abu Shama

MAS: I have prepared several investigative reports using very primitive tools for writing and documentation due to the lack of electricity; which is necessary to use my laptop. At first, I used a paper and pen, and I would walk long distances to talk to my sources, especially doctors and families of victims. Then, I was able to access electricity in Nassir Hospital, and I found a spot on the floor where I would sit for very long hours with my laptop to write my reports. I also used open sources for documentation.

My main motive for preparing the reports was my professional duty to document what was not presented by the “fast news” journalism, which snips and reduces the stories of many victims. Each victim and bombing has a meaningful story that should be uncovered and reported to the world, specifically since the Israeli military has denied foreign journalists’ entry to Gaza. Consequently, I worked on war-related investigative reports in depth, uncovering information that was not presented or tackled by the press.

GIJN:  You have lost many of your close relatives. How has this great loss affected you personally and professionally?

MAS: In the beginning of the war, my sister’s home was targeted by the Israeli forces. She was there along with her children, my niece, and paternal cousins. I was under shock and stopped working for a week. I couldn’t keep going because of this loss.

However, I went back to work as the war went on and the need emerged to prepare reports that would reveal details that were unknown. Later, I was shocked by the news that my home was bombed and destroyed along with my journalism equipment and investigative reporting documents. I was saddened by the news because I lived for years in that home.

It had witnessed moments of joy, grief, distress, relief, and the birth of my first child. I went to my destroyed home, but I couldn’t salvage my laptop or any of my documents. From the rubble, I only managed to pull out some clothes that were either torn or smelled of gunpowder. This made me extremely frustrated, especially because I have a young family and I worked very hard to build that house. Nevertheless, I consoled myself with the fact that my safety and the safety of my family is more important than the house, and I accepted what happened to it.

Two weeks after the bombing of my house, I was devastated by the news of the killing of my eldest brother as he was trying to escape Khan Younis. The most difficult thing about his death was that his body was left in the street for 20 days until it decomposed. We couldn’t do anything about it because of the intensity of the bombardment in the area. This is the most difficult experience a person could go through.

GIJN: Some of your stories have included interviews with civilians whose children were killed and homes were destroyed. These types of interviews require using special techniques to address the psychological and physical effects of war. How can a Gazan journalist provide a suitable interviewing environment when he himself is suffering the same loss, and tremendous emotional and material toll? 

MAS: Most of the people I interviewed were so traumatized that they would cry and fall apart as soon as they began to talk. This was a big challenge for me. However, I’ve been working in these circumstances for years, so I would hold them and cry with them, comfort them, and immerse myself in their feelings to be able to genuinely report on them.

GIJN: In your investigative report on the burn injuries to civilians following Israeli bombardment of residential neighborhoods, you were required to collect samples of shrapnel and remnants of bombs. This type of evidence collection requires in-depth knowledge. How did you manage to complete this task and what was the methodology that you followed?

MAS: I found names and numbers on pieces of rockets and shrapnel. I researched these names and numbers on the internet. I asked experts of explosives and found the manufacturers of these rockets. The methodology I used was to record the names written on the remains of rockets and shrapnel and used open sources to confirm their manufacturers. Moreover, I explored the injuries caused by these rockets and compared them to injuries of victims in previous wars.

Abu Shahma’s investigation into the severe burns that Gazans have suffered after being subjected to Israeli airstrikes. Image: Screenshot, Al Jazeera

GIJN: Can you explain to me the risk assessment plan you have developed while working on stories in Gaza since all of the territory is subject to bombing threat?

MAS: For every investigative report, I think a lot about the possibility of retaliation and have to consider what details to include — or not — to protect myself and my sources. Nevertheless, risks remain till this day. “Safety first” is a basic rule in journalism, but in this war danger surrounds everyone. Hence, I decided to keep on working and reporting.

GIJN: Your investigative reporting has included official figures and statements issued by Gaza officials and independent sources to support your stories. Is there a strategy you follow to document facts and information using credible sources, considering the conditions of the war and the entire collapse of services and public sectors in Gaza?

MAS: I would wait for long hours at the doors of junior officials who have the database needed to access documented statistics. On a daily basis, I gather statistics issued by official authorities, analyze, and use them in my investigative reporting to make it more accurate.

GIJN: What story would you have done differently if you had the required resources?

MAS: Stories on artificial intelligence used by the Israeli army to determine targets to bomb would be of interest, but I lack the resources to report out details like how it determines whose home to target, who would be killed, who supplies the software, who else benefits from this arrangement, how much does it cost, and how is it funded?

GIJN: What advice would you give to journalists wishing to produce investigative reports and in-depth stories, whether from inside or outside of Gaza, to document potential war crimes and the repercussions of the conflict in the Strip? 

MAS: I’d tell them to focus on topics that expose any possible war crimes committed against thousands of innocent civilians. However, exposing potentially criminal acts requires investigative efforts. Considering that it is almost impossible for foreign journalists to enter Gaza due to the Israeli military blockade, while local journalists find it very difficult to move around under constant shelling and bombardment, open sources and basic investigative tools are a good resource.

I would advise journalists to focus on issues that are still ambiguous to the public, such as determining the original sources of weapons used to kill civilians and the fate of thousands of disappeared and detained civilians since the beginning of the war. Finally, I would call on my colleagues to be patient and take into consideration the complicated conditions caused by the war, in addition to the severe lack of resources that makes investigative work take longer than usual.

GIJN: What is the most difficult situation you have been through as an investigative journalist in this war? 

MAS: I was at Al-Shifa Hospital talking to a child named Ilyas, who suffered from burns caused by an Israeli rocket. The child had difficulty talking because all his family members had been killed. Later, I was informed by the child’s uncle that Ilyas died before I was able to publish my report. I went through the interview several times, watching the child saying that he was alright and expressing his hope of surviving. When I wrote the report, I made Ilyas’ story a priority and gave it enough space to show his suffering.

Majdolin Hasan is GIJN’s Arabic editor and a three-time award-winning journalist with more than 12 years of experience. She has worked with local and international media organizations, including Global Integrity, 100Reporters and the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism network. She was the director of an investigative journalism unit in Jordan and was the first Jordanian citizen to file a case against the Jordanian government for denying her the right to access public information according to an access to information law. Hasan has an MA in political science and a BA in journalism.