There are wars fought with artillery, and there are wars fought with truth. In the ongoing devastation that has reshaped the Gaza Strip and the lives of millions of Palestinians, the world has borne witness to unparalleled destruction. Yet, rising above the rubble, the roar of munitions, and the systemic silencing of an entire population, a profound resilience has emerged. The Palestinian people have endured a crucible of unimaginable suffering, demonstrating a fortitude that demands the highest praise. And at the forefront of this endurance stands a 26-year-old journalist, activist, and filmmaker who has become the defining voice of her generation: Bisan Owda.
With a simple, chilling, yet defiantly hopeful catchphrase—“It’s Bisan from Gaza, and I’m still alive”—Owda has shattered the pristine, often detached narratives of traditional broadcast journalism. She has humanized a conflict that global powers have frequently sought to reduce to mere statistics, cementing herself as the true hero of the war in Palestine.
The Landscape of Survival
To understand the magnitude of Bisan Owda’s heroism, one must first recognize the sheer scale of the catastrophe endured by the Palestinian people. Since October 2023, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to a relentless bombardment that has decimated neighborhoods, wiped out multi-generational families, and systematically dismantled the region’s infrastructure. Hospitals, schools, bakeries, and ancient cultural heritage sites have been reduced to ash and concrete dust. Over 40,000 Palestinians—predominantly innocent women and children—have been killed, while millions have been subjected to mass displacement, starvation, and the terrifying uncertainty of a life lived constantly under the threat of death.
Yet, the story of Palestine is not merely one of victimization; it is a profound testament to human endurance. In the face of a military superpower equipped with advanced weaponry, the Palestinian people have held fast to their humanity. Neighbors have dug strangers out of the rubble with their bare hands. Doctors have performed surgeries in besieged hospitals without anesthesia or electricity. Parents have comforted their children in the pitch black of night, shielding them from the psychological terror of drone strikes.
This indomitable spirit is the bedrock upon which Bisan Owda’s journalism is built. She does not just report on the Palestinians; she is one of them, living the very trauma she documents, and sharing the unvarnished reality of her people with an international audience that can no longer look away.
The Genesis of “I’m Still Alive”
Before the escalation of the war, Bisan Owda was a young storyteller living in Beit Hanoun, a city on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip. When the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) issued mass evacuation orders for northern Gaza in the early weeks of the war, Owda, like hundreds of thousands of her compatriots, was forced to flee. She and her parents sought refuge at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City—a facility that would soon become the epicenter of a grueling siege.
It was from the overcrowded, panicked corridors of Al-Shifa, and later from a makeshift tent in the courtyard, that Owda began to broadcast her reality to the world. Armed with nothing more than a smartphone and a precarious internet connection, she launched her series for the Al Jazeera Media Network, It’s Bisan from Gaza, and I’m Still Alive.
Her dispatches were a stark departure from the polished, studio-anchored news segments of Western media. Owda reported with a raw intensity that conveyed the profound emotional debt of the war. When Al-Shifa was besieged in mid-November 2023, she documented the horrific reality of injured civilians dying slowly from a lack of basic medical care. When forced to evacuate once more, she filmed her harrowing journey on foot south toward Khan Younis, describing the bodies lining the roads and interviewing fellow refugees whose lives had been upended.
In early December 2023, the sheer weight of the trauma seeped into her dispatches. She openly admitted to her audience, “I no longer have any hope of survival as I had at the beginning of this genocide.” She spoke of battling illness and night terrors, providing a deeply intimate look at the psychological toll of continuous warfare. By sharing her vulnerability, Owda bridged the gap between the screen and the viewer, ensuring that the victims of the war were not reduced to numbers but were recognized as living, breathing human beings facing annihilation.
Redefining Modern Journalism
Owda’s work has forced a critical re-evaluation of what journalism looks like in the 21st century. Historically, war correspondents have operated with the backing of massive institutional resources, flak jackets, armored vehicles, and the ability to leave the war zone when their assignment ends. Bisan Owda has none of these privileges. She is a citizen of the besieged territory, reporting from the very kill zones she is trying to survive.
Her journalism does not indulge in sensationalism. It presents the stark, inescapable realities of Palestinian existence: the struggle to find clean drinking water, the terror of navigating destroyed streets, the grief of burying loved ones in mass graves, and the fleeting moments of solidarity among the displaced.
Through her Instagram account, which rapidly amassed over 5 million followers, Owda mobilized a global audience. She was instrumental in calling for a global strike in December 2023 to demand a ceasefire, urging her followers to “boycott everything.” The strike rippled across the globe, observed in the United States, the UK, Lebanon, and beyond. She proved that a single, authentic voice could bypass the gatekeepers of traditional media and speak directly to the conscience of the world.
The Accolades and the Backlash
The undeniable impact of Owda’s reporting eventually garnered the attention of the highest echelons of the journalism establishment. In May 2024, she was awarded the prestigious Peabody Award in the News category. The Peabody board of jurors praised her work, stating, “Reporting from her makeshift tent outside the medical center, she shows what survival looks like for her and the masses around her.”
Accepting the award via video from Gaza, Owda dedicated the honor to the college students protesting on global campuses and the citizens participating in boycotts, recognizing the symbiotic relationship between her reporting and the global solidarity movement for Palestine.
Her accolades did not stop there. She won a Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Edward R. Murrow Award and the Amnesty International Australia Human Rights Defender Award. However, it was her nomination—and ultimate victory—for a News and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Hard News Feature Story that sparked a fierce, politically motivated backlash.
In July 2024, after It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive received its Emmy nomination, a pro-Israel nonprofit organization, Creative Community for Peace, launched an aggressive campaign to have her nomination rescinded. They published an open letter signed by figures in the entertainment industry, making baseless allegations regarding her political affiliations.
The attempt to strip Owda of her recognition was a clear manifestation of the systemic efforts to silence Palestinian voices. However, the journalism community stood firm. Adam Sharp, the president and CEO of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), adamantly refused to rescind the nomination, noting that two independent panels of experienced journalists had vetted her work and found the allegations to be entirely unsubstantiated. Al Jazeera vehemently defended her, calling the campaign a threat to her physical safety in a war where over 160 journalists had already been killed.
On September 25, 2024, against all odds and organized opposition, Bisan Owda won the Emmy Award. As Dima Khatib, Managing Director of AJ+ Channels, profoundly noted, “Bisan’s reporting has humanized the Palestinian story after decades of mainstream media’s systematic dehumanization of Palestinians. Winning this Emmy is a win for humanity.”
The Unending Struggle and the Return to the North
The narrative of Gaza did not end with declarations of a “ceasefire.” As Merged Insight closely follows the ongoing developments into 2025 and 2026, the reality on the ground remains deeply fractured. For Palestinians, the end of active bombardment in certain sectors did not equate to an end to the suffering.
After 15 agonizing months of displacement, Owda finally made the journey back to her family home in Beit Hanoun in early 2025. A trip that would have once taken 40 minutes took over 24 hours through devastated landscapes. Upon arriving at her heavily damaged home, one of her first acts was to hang a Palestinian flag from her balcony—a quiet but immensely powerful declaration that the people of Gaza remain unbroken.
Even as the world attempts to move on, Owda continues to document the arduous process of rebuilding. From families living in tents atop the rubble of their former lives, to children navigating destroyed infrastructure just to reach makeshift schools, she reminds us that the war’s legacy is etched into the very soil of Gaza. Her continued presence on digital platforms—despite aggressive censorship, including the permanent banning of her TikTok account in early 2026—proves that her commitment to the truth is unshakable.
The Legacy of a Hero
To give the Palestinians our praise is not merely to acknowledge their suffering, but to actively honor their strength, their culture, and their undeniable right to exist and thrive in their homeland. It is to recognize the sheer courage required to wake up every day under siege and choose to live.
Bisan Owda is the true hero of this war because she weaponized the truth against an apparatus of overwhelming violence and disinformation. She looked into the lens of her camera and forced the international community to look back at the reflection of its own complicity. She did not just survive; she ensured that the stories of those who perished were immortalized.
In the annals of journalism and human rights, Bisan Owda’s name will be etched alongside the great truth-tellers of history. Through the smoke, the rubble, and the endless nights of terror, she kept her camera rolling. She told the world, “I am still alive,” and in doing so, she ensured that the spirit, dignity, and truth of the Palestinian people would live forever.
This video documents Bisan’s arduous 24-hour journey back to her heavily damaged family home in Beit Hanoon, capturing the profound resilience and enduring reality of life in Gaza.
A Merged Insight Exclusive.
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