The Global Story: A Gazan journalist’s diary

Summary

Podcast Summary

Podcast: Global News Podcast (BBC World Service) Episode: The Global Story: A Gazan journalist’s diary
Air Date: October 19, 2025
Host/Producer: Hannah Moore, Asma Khalid, Tristan Redman
Guest: Ghada Al Kurd, Freelance Journalist, Gaza City

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Overview

This episode provides a deeply personal look at the war in Gaza through the voice and daily experiences of journalist Ghada Al Kurd, as recorded across several weeks before and after the announcement of a ceasefire. With international media blocked from Gaza, producers rely on Ghada’s personal audio diaries to capture the reality of reporting from inside the strip—a place marked by destruction, displacement, and loss. The episode interweaves Ghada’s raw reflections on survival, her professional dedication, and her responsibilities as a mother, offering profound insight into both the everyday and extraordinary challenges facing Gazans and local journalists.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The War’s Toll on Gaza and Its Journalists

• The Context

  • After the ceasefire, life remains precarious. Ghada’s testimonies illustrate the emotional whiplash from fleeting hope to persistent danger. Gaza has seen unprecedented destruction and civilian casualties during the Israeli military campaign, with journalists paying a particularly high price.
  • Journalists have become the main source of information, with at least 197 killed in two years, making this conflict the deadliest for the profession (04:44).

• Personal Loss and Professional Duty

  • Ghada describes the torment of living and reporting through bombings, displacement, and loss—her own brother and his family killed in an airstrike, her father lost due to lack of medical resources (08:12).
  • “I love this city. I love Gaza. ...The sounds of these drones is killing us all the time. Whenever you are hearing the drones, it means that you are in an unsafe place.” – Ghada Al Kurd (04:02)

Displacement and Survival

• Forced to Flee

  • As IDF issues evacuation notices and conducts airstrikes, Ghada is forced to repeatedly abandon home and office (05:36). She details the chaos of fleeing—a “20 minute drive” to escape becomes a 12-hour ordeal, often punctuated by uncertainty and fear (11:19-12:40).
  • “I think this is forever. Maybe this is the last time I will see Gaza destroyed, Gaza, my beloved city.” – Ghada Al Kurd (11:29)

• Life in Displacement

  • Life in camps is harsh and undignified: “We have limited access to water and we just built a manual bathroom from blankets... Everyone knows when you go to the bathroom. ...It’s painful, actually, for me because I’m taking care of my privacy and keeps me under stress and pressure all the time.” – Ghada Al Kurd (13:16-14:08)

The Emotional Weight

• Psychological Strain

  • Ghada reveals the near-overwhelming burden of loss, guilt, and anxiety, both as a journalist and a mother.
  • “I cannot hide, like I'm under pressure, under stress. ...I was crying all day today... I feel like my brain is full and empty at the same time.” (16:26)

• Memories and Hopes

  • She draws comfort remembering happier times in Istanbul and her childhood, yet these recollections intensify the sense of loss (17:09).
  • “I want to go back to this time where we were very happy, a very happy family living inside one house.” (17:09)

The Cost to Ordinary Lives

• Loss of Normalcy
  • Children stop going to school, begin to forget to read, social structures dissolve, and there is little to look forward to (16:14).
  • Ghada expresses that people blame both Hamas and the Israeli government: “They're playing with our lives. ...The war, then starvation, closing the roads, closing the crossings.” (15:45)

Ceasefire: Cautious Hope and Lingering Insecurity

• Mixed Emotions

  • Following the ceasefire, euphoria is replaced quickly by anxiety—aid withheld by Israel, uncertainty over the return of hostages’ bodies, and broken infrastructure (20:47-21:29).
  • Ghada considers returning to Gaza City: her home stands, but nothing else is certain. “92% of the buildings in Gaza City have been destroyed or damaged...” (22:22)

• Danger Persists

  • New forms of violence emerge: gang violence and Hamas executions, dwindling rule of law, continued IDF presence and shootings (25:50-26:59).
  • “Now, we can return home late at night. This is the ceasefire, what does it mean for us?” (25:28)

Looking to the Future

• On Rebuilding and Leaving
  • Ghada prioritizes her daughters’ futures: “I will invest all my effort now just to teach them and to find schools for them. And if I have the chance to leave, take them with me, I'll do it.” (26:59)
  • Facing the prospect of Rafah crossing reopening, she says: “I must leave Gaza, not only for me, but because of my daughter. ...I want peace for them. I want stability. I want a better life for them.” (27:36)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Journalism under Fire:

  • “It’s nothing less than heroic what the journalists of Gaza have done. And yet a record number more than any other war the world has known the journalists have been killed.” – Host summarizing media association position (02:46)

• On the Impossible Choices Gazans Face:

  • “[The IDF] are just throwing these flares every day to oblige the people to leave to the south. ...This is another threat.” – Ghada Al Kurd (05:36)

• On the Collapse of Gaza’s Social Fabric:

  • “We were having like, cafes, restaurants, buildings, very modern buildings. And now like, yeah, they're playing both Hamas and Israel, they are playing with our life. ...Retaining from south to north, then resuming the war, then starvation, closing the roads, closing the checkpoints...” – Ghada Al Kurd (15:45)

• On Life After Ceasefire:

  • “It was heavier for me. I had to report many incidents. ...I'm thinking of going back again without electricity, water, without anything, and being away from my daughters.” – Ghada Al Kurd (22:49)

• On the Need to Leave:

  • “I must leave Gaza not only for me, but because of my daughter. ...The infrastructure is completely destroyed, and it will mean months and years just to remove the rubble and rebuilding Gaza, it will take years. I don't want to lose the future of my daughters.” – Ghada Al Kurd (27:36)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:36] - Introduction: Purpose of the episode, focus on Gazan journalists
• [04:02] - Ghada shares her feelings on living under constant drone surveillance
• [08:12] - Personal family losses and realities of reporting in war
• [11:19] - Ghada forced to flee, describes her final moments in Gaza City
• [13:16] - Description of conditions in tent camps, loss of dignity and privacy
• [14:56] - Ghada’s reflections on returning to Gaza after studying abroad
• [15:45] - Community blame of both Hamas and Israeli government
• [16:26] - Ghada’s mental health and the psychological impact of war
• [20:11] - Ambivalent hope after ceasefire, desire for new leadership
• [22:22] - Returning to Gaza City, thoughts on rebuilding and fatigue
• [23:51] - Coverage of prisoner reunions, tragedy at Nasser Hospital
• [25:50] - Violence in the power vacuum and fear of armed gangs
• [26:59] - Focus on children’s future, the need for schooling or emigration
• [27:36] - Discussion of possibly leaving Gaza through Rafah, the longing for peace and stability

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Episode Tone

The episode is both intimate and urgent—marked by raw emotion, resilience under fire, and deep sorrow. Ghada’s candid reflections combine hope, despair, and flashes of determination, giving human depth to headlines about Gaza, war, and its aftermath.

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This episode is essential listening (or reading) for those seeking to understand the day-to-day consequences of conflict—on identity, community, and journalistic courage—in Gaza.

Transcript

[Narrator / Host]

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[Ghada Al Kurd]

Ah.

[Tristan Redman]

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[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

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[Ray Winstone (Podcast Ad Voice)]

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[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

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[Asma Khalid / Hannah Moore]

Hey there. I'm Asma Khalid.

[Tristan Redman]

And I'm Tristan Redman. And we're here with a bonus episode for you from the Global Story podcast.

[Asma Khalid / Hannah Moore]

The world order is shifting. Old alliances are fraying and new ones are emerging. Some of this turbulence can be traced to decisions made in the United States. But the US Isn't just a cause of the upheaval. Its politics are also a symptom of it.

[Tristan Redman]

Every day we focus on one story looking at how America and the world shape each other.

[Asma Khalid / Hannah Moore]

So we hope you enjoy this episode and to find more of our show, just search for the Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts. It's been a week now since the ceasefire in Gaza was announced. The bombs have stopped for now, and so we wanted to find out how people in Gaza are feeling now that the initial elation of the ceasefire has passed. And we specifically wanted to know what life has been like for Palestinian journalists who have been living through this war while also covering it these last two years. And so we are gonna do something a little different for today's episode. Over the past month, our colleague Hannah Moore, one of the producers on this show, has been calling up Ghada Al Kourt. She's a freelance journalist from Gaza City and she's reported for the BBC and other news outlets.

[Tristan Redman]

Normally, the BBC would send our foreign correspondents into war zones, but that hasn't been possible in this conflict because the Israeli government has blocked international media from going into Gaza independently. We talked a little bit about this on Monday's episode with the BBC's chief international correspondent, Lise Tosette.

[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

The media watchdog groups, the association of Journalists, including the the foreign press association in this country. They've reiterated their demand for journalists to be let in. It's nothing less than heroic what the journalists of Gaza have done. And yet a record number more than any other war the world has known. The journalists have been killed.

[Tristan Redman]

From the BBC, this is the global story. And today on the show, a Gazan journalist's diary.

[Narrator / Host]

The first time Gheda messages me is on September 13th.

[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

Hello, this is Ghadar Kurd, a freelance journalist from Gaza.

[Narrator / Host]

She's walking through her neighborhood, Ramal, which is in the west of Gaza City. And I can hear in the background, normal everyday life. I can hear people chatting, I can hear car horns beeping. But I can also hear drones flying overhead. And she says that the Israeli Defense Forces, the idf, has just carried out an airstrike nearby. She wonders what's going to happen to her city.

[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

I'm living this situation days and nights and I'm still here in Gaza. And I love this city. I love Gaza. I love the places where I was born, where I was going to school, where I'm meeting all my friends here. It's very hard situation here to live under the explosions around the hour. The sounds of these drones is killing us all the time. Whenever you are hearing the drones, it means that you are an unsafe place.

[Narrator / Host]

Khader's job is dangerous. At least 197 journalists and media workers have been killed in this war in the past two years. That makes it the most deadly conflict for journalists in history. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Israeli government has repeatedly denied that its forces target journalists. By mid September, the IDF is preparing to invade Gaza City, which it claims is now the main stronghold of Hamas. It flies over the city, dropping thousands of leaflets telling people to evacuate. I watched the videos of the black and white pieces of paper fluttering in the air and the children below running to catch them.

[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

Today is the 14th of September 2025 and I'm going now to the office to do my work. Just moving from my house to the office. What I'm seeing around me, people, they are leaving west of Gaza City, taking their tents to move to the south as the Israeli army just published evacuation flyers to evacuate immediately. This is another threat. They are just throwing these flares every day to oblige the people to leave to the south.

[Narrator / Host]

When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, it set in motion an Israeli government response that would cause hell for Gazan people. At least 67,000 people in Gaza have been Killed, according to the Hamas run health Ministry, most of them civilians, more than 18,000 of them children. Reporting on this conflict means Fakhada interviewing the people she lives beside in her community. People who were struggling to find food, people who were losing their friends and family.

[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

This morning I wanted to see my neighbor. I used to see them every day, but unfortunately they have decided to flee to the south. I wanted to see Aman. She's 18 and she's married with a young guy who loves hair too much, unfortunately. His name is Anan. Anan went to the Cream Crossing to get some food for his pretty wife, but he got shot and killed. I'm thinking too much of Anan every day. She's pregnant now. I keep thinking of her every day. What will be her future and her baby in this difficult circumstances.

[Narrator / Host]

Khada's also got her own family on her mind. At the start of the war, one of her brothers and his family was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the north. She thinks they're still buried under the rubble, but it hasn't been safe enough to go and check. Her father died around the same time because they couldn't find him the medication or the food he needed. They buried him, but they don't even know if the grave is still there. Now the IDF is starting its ground offensive. On the tv, I'm seeing videos of apartment blocks being blown up. It's amazing how quickly they fall and they leave these huge, huge clouds of smoke in the air. This is how Prime Minister Netanyahu explains what the Israeli government's doing.

[Ray Winstone (Podcast Ad Voice)]

We're not bringing down those towers to intimidate people. Those towers are serving as Hamas strongholds. We ask you to leave. And what is Hamas doing?

[Gain Advertisement Voice]

They're asking them to stay because they want to use them as human shields.

[Ray Winstone (Podcast Ad Voice)]

As they've done from the beginning of the war.

[Narrator / Host]

But leaving isn't easy.

[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

I'm here with my oldest brother and he's sick and he cannot even walk. We. We didn't find a transportation, a car or anything to take us to the south. And I cannot leave him behind me. And yes, I'm still reporting in spite of the. The airstrike, the explosions around us.

[Narrator / Host]

Khada also has two daughters to think about. There's Mira, who's 13, and Fatima, who's 11. She sends them out of the city ahead of her to stay with their dad, her ex husband, while she stays behind with her brother. Good morning. How are you? On the morning of September 15th, she sends me a photo of her office In Gaza City, the windows are smashed in and there are electricity cables and tiles hanging loose from the ceiling. I have limited access to Internet, she writes. Our office is partially destroyed and there is no connection. The IDF has bombed a building right.

[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

Next door, targeted and all the street the neighborhood was partially destroyed. But we still here, we're still reporting in spite of all of these circumstances.

[Narrator / Host]

Over the next few days, Israel's bombardment will force hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, scrabbling to take what they can along the coastal road heading south. Khada and her brother, who's ill, have been struggling to find somewhere to stay in the south. But someone in her family offers space for him while she'll go and stay with friends. They pay a driver hundreds of dollars to take them what's normally a 20 minute drive.

[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

It's 6pm now and it's been like three hours. I'm waiting in the car.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

And.

[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

Leaving this city and I think this is forever. Maybe this is the last time I will see Gaza destroyed. Gaza, my beloved city.

[Narrator / Host]

And.

[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

I don't know what will be the next a step of my life.

[Narrator / Host]

Over the next days, her messages get fewer and shorter. On September 21, I just send her a heart emoji. I don't know what to say. September 22nd. How are you today, Jhada? Hi, dear, I'm doing good. The next day, the same message. When we both know that's not true. For the next few days, I hear nothing. On the 27th, hi, Hannah. Sorry for not sharing notes. I have limited access to Internet. She tells me she's ended up at Al Nusrat camp and that the road to get there was so crowded that it took 12 hours and now she's got to live in a tent. I'm worried about her and I give her a call. Hello, Ghara, can you hear me?

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Yes, I'm hearing you very well.

[Narrator / Host]

Where are you just now?

[Ghada Al Kurd]

I'm inside the cafe, like waiting for your call.

[Narrator / Host]

It sounds really quiet in there. I'm surprised.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Behind me it's very noisy.

[Narrator / Host]

Okay.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Like the windows are broken because if there was a target here, like they.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

Destroy a building behind me so I can give the noise of this tree.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

I'm gonna go all the time.

[Narrator / Host]

And you know the tent that you're staying in, what kind of structure is that? Is that a sort of just like a camping tent?

[Ghada Al Kurd]

It's a camping tent. It's like enough for four people and I had to evacuate with my friends and we have limited access to water and we just built A manual bathroom st just made from covers, from blankets and. Yeah, so it's very difficult even for.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

Me and for the girls. We are in an urban land, so.

[Narrator / Host]

There'S just no privacy at all.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Nothing. Nothing. Like, everyone knows that when you are going to the bathroom, they can see you. They can. Like we have like to hide behind this bathroom. It's. It's painful actually for me because I'm taking care of my privacy and keeps me under stress and pressure all the time.

[Narrator / Host]

Talking to her, I realized that I know quite a lot by now about the daily struggles that she's living through. But I don't understand fundamentally what has brought her to this point, why she's reporting on this conflict. And what becomes clear as we carry on talking is that she just loves her job and she loves the place she's from before the war started.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Khada says she was really happy before the October 7th.

[Narrator / Host]

She'd been working as a reporter for about a decade, and then she went to Istanbul in Turkey to do a master's degree. Studying abroad is quite unusual for Gazan women. While she was there, her daughters stayed behind with their grandparents. And then when she finished her course, instead of moving the family out of Gaza, she went back.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

I was very happy to come back.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

To Gaza to see my daughters again, see my family.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

We were happy to be together all.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

The time, going with them, market, buying for them, lots of toys, and I want to teach them and to raise them. I wanted them to see me as an idol for them.

[Narrator / Host]

This was August 2023. Hamas attacked Israel in October that year. So she only had two months of normality with her daughters before everything changed. She says she's been displaced seven or eight times during the war, and every time she moves, she's got to gain people's trust. When you talk to people who do they feel angry with, do they feel angry with Hamas, do they feel angry with the Israeli government?

[Ghada Al Kurd]

To be honest, like, they feel angry from everyone because before the October 7, Gaza was very beautiful and we were having like, cafes, restaurants, buildings, very modern buildings. And now like, yeah, they're playing both Hamas and Israel, they are playing with our life. Like moving from north to the south, retaining from south to north, then resuming the war, then starvation, closing the roads, closing the checkpoints, closing, closing the crossings.

[Narrator / Host]

She says everything is destroyed. Kids aren't going to school, they're not getting an education. She says that a lot of them are forgetting how to read. There's no social life and nothing to look forward to.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

I cannot hide Like I'm under pressure, under stress. I don't have like the ability to start working. Actually, I was crying all the day today. I feel like my brain is full and empty. This little time, you know what I'm thinking? I, I, I, I'm all the time I need. I told myself maybe I need a psychological doctor or something just to, to, to, to talk to him, to express my feelings much better. And I know myself like I will, I will work, but it will need time completely.

[Narrator / Host]

Other are there memories that keep coming back to you? You know, in terms of just trying to keep your spirit up?

[Ghada Al Kurd]

I'm just all the time. Sometimes I'm just watching some reels on Instagram about Istanbul, where, the places where I was living. I'm telling myself I went to this place. I went to the sublist. I know this place. And yes, sometimes like I just go back to my childhood where I was living in east of Jabaria with my parents, with my brother. We were living inside big yard surrounded by trees. Like, I want to go back to this time where we were very happy and a very happy family living inside one house. Even my daughters were with me and even like something like this.

[Narrator / Host]

Will you keep me updated if you manage to go and see them?

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Sure. Yes. Yeah, for sure.

[Narrator / Host]

Thank you. I'm gonna let you go because I know you have a lot of things to do and it's a lot to talk about. All this stuff I imagine, like, emotionally, it's really a lot.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

You can call me and we can discuss more if you want.

[Narrator / Host]

Okay. We keep in touch.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Inshallah.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

I hope so.

[Narrator / Host]

Sa.

[Asma Khalid / Hannah Moore]

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[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

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[Asma Khalid / Hannah Moore]

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[Ghada Al Kurd]

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[Asma Khalid / Hannah Moore]

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[Gain Advertisement Voice / Additional Narration]

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[Narrator / Host]

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[Asma Khalid / Hannah Moore]

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[Ray Winstone (Podcast Ad Voice)]

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[Narrator / Host]

When the news of the ceasefire breaks, people across Gaza are celebrating, playing music in the streets, cheering and crying. I call Khada again and she sounds hopeful about what this could mean for Gazans.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

Well, I was expecting that President Donald Trump, that he will achieve something at the end, but it takes time for him. You know, last time it was in January and there was a ceasefire, and the second time now we've been talking here as people, as journalists, between each other, that it should come to the end, but it would take time. And Gaza needs now Gaza need a new government, new people, a new leader, a new official that will look for a better future for the Palestinian who has been suffering for a long time here in Gaza.

[Narrator / Host]

But as the days go by, the fractures in the ceasefire are starting to show. I'm recording this on Wednesday afternoon, and at this point, Hamas hasn't returned most of the bodies of the dead hostages to Israel. And Israel in return is. Is withholding aid from Gaza. The hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the war, including Khada, have also now got to weigh up whether it's safe to go back to the homes that they left behind, if they're still standing.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Hello. Hi.

[Narrator / Host]

How are you?

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Fine. I'm good. Yeah? Yes, tired, but good.

[Narrator / Host]

You've been reporting a lot, right?

[Ghada Al Kurd]

I've been seeing you on TV since the ceasefire.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

Like I didn't stop.

[Narrator / Host]

Where are you now?

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

In leaving, maybe after. In two hours to Gaza.

[Narrator / Host]

Okay. You're going back to Gaza City again?

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Yes.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

I'm waiting just for the car and I need my friend to come with me also to carry all the luggage that I have. Then we will move to Gaza.

[Narrator / Host]

Is your brother going back with you as well?

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

No, he's not. He has some work in Deir El Bellah. He told me now he will not be able to come back with me. Actually, I don't want to want anyone to be with me in the apartment. I want to be alone, just to relax. That's it. Yeah, I can imagine.

[Narrator / Host]

92% of the buildings in Gaza City have been destroyed or damaged, according to the United Nations. But Hadas found out that her home is still standing. She's comparatively fortunate then, to have somewhere to return to. How long she'll be able to stay is a different question. Has your job as a journalist become any easier over the last few days since the ceasefire came into place?

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

No, it was like more heavy. It was heavier for me. I had to Report many incidents. I have to. To make so many interviews. And I'm this place now in central Gaza, and I'm thinking of going back again without electricity, water, without anything, and being away from my daughters. I could see them twice only during my displacement in one month. I cannot tell you, like, I cannot describe for you how tired I am now.

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Yeah.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

After yesterday, covering the news of releasing the hostages and coming back late at night, I couldn't even. Like, I couldn't even change my clothes. I slipped immediately.

[Narrator / Host]

She's been interviewing some of the families of the prisoners that Israel has released. The release involved about 250 prisoners who'd been convicted of crimes, including murder and deadly attacks against Israelis, and about 1,700 detainees from Gaza who had been held by Israel without charge.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

They just were cheering up and playing summer music and carrying Palestinian flags. Mothers, wives, daughters, they were crying whenever they saw their relatives. It was emotional day.

[Narrator / Host]

But amid the celebrations, a lot of confusion, distress and anger, the list of who was going to be released changed several times. Some families waited for hours to find out their brother, father, sister wasn't coming home after all. And at Nasser Hospital, Khada met people who were expecting to be reunited with their family members and instead were presented with dead bodies.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

Some of them, they were waiting for their family, but they found, like, their families completely killed during the war. So they were actually. There was some kind of sad moments in the yard of Nasser Hospital. Not all of them. They were happy, like, some of them. They lost all the family members and relatives and friends and were shocked because they didn't get any information about what is going on in Gaza. Families. They were killed. Yeah. Wow.

[Narrator / Host]

How have things changed around you? I mean, you know, a lot of the early messages that you sent me, the sound of drones was just this constant in the background. And you were always fearful about bombings, explosions. You couldn't see. How have things changed around you in the past few days?

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

We can witness some kind of calmness here, quietness. There is no airstrikes, no targeting in the streets or even markets. Like, it was very risky to go out even after evening. Like, now, we can return home late at night. This is the ceasefire. What does it mean for us?

[Narrator / Host]

The Israeli bombing has paused, but in its place, a new violence. Hamas fighters and rival gangs get into deadly shootouts in the streets.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

We were afraid, like, some. Some of the gangs will meet us in the roads and the streets and will ask us to give them whatever we have because there is no security forces in that area. I mean, in Eastern Area of Gaza Strip.

[Narrator / Host]

The BBC has verified video that shows Hamas executing eight people on Monday night that it alleges were Israeli collaborators. Israel's previously said that it supplied weapons to other armed groups in the strip. Meanwhile, the IDF still controls more than half of Gaza. In the past few days, its soldiers have shot and killed Palestinians who it says crossed the yellow line. It has withdrawn to. Life is still so fragile. So your plan in the next few hours is to get in a car and drive to Gaza City. Do you want to rebuild your life there?

[Ghada Al Kurd]

Well, my life is for me.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

I have finished everything. I have my own work. I have my own apartment. The problem for me is just to rebuild my daughter's life. They need to go to school. They need to read and write again. They need education. I will invest all my effort now just to teach them and to find schools for them. And if I have the chance to leave, take them with me. I'll do it.

[Narrator / Host]

So because the Rafah crossing into Egypt from Gaza might open soon, do you think you might leave Gaza?

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

I must leave Gaza not only for me, but because of my daughter. If their father agreed to travel with me, it will be my. My biggest victory in this world. I want peace for them. I want stability. I want better life for them. The difficulties here in Gaza, that they should all the time look for food or water or electricity or wi fi. The infrastructure is completely destroyed, and it will mean months and years just to remove the rubble and rebuilding Gaza, it will take years. I don't want to lose the future of my daughters. Meanwhile.

[Narrator / Host]

Well, lovely to speak to you as ever, and I'm glad it's in a slightly better situation than last time we spoke.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

You are welcome to any chance.

[Narrator / Host]

Thank you. All right. Safe journey.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

Okay. Thank you.

[Narrator / Host]

All right.

[Ghada Al Kurd (alternate or emotional voice) / Interviewee]

Bye bye. Bye, bye.

[Asma Khalid / Hannah Moore]

That was Ghada Al Kurd, a freelance journalist from Gaza City, speaking with our colleague Hannah Moore, who also produced this episode. The executive producer on today's show was James Shield. It was engineered by Travis Evans, and our senior news editor is China Collins. That is it for the global story for today. We'll talk to you again tomorrow.

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