“Israel Killed My Best Friend, My Husband” | Shrouq Al Aila

Hala Hanina speaks to Emmy award-winning Palestinian journalist Shrouq Al Aila directly from Gaza.

In the second episode of Falasteeniya, a new podcast series spotlighting the voices, expertise, and lived experiences of Palestinian women and exploring the gendered dynamic of Israel's oppression, host Hala Hanina welcomes Journalist and Emmy award-winner Shrouq Al Aila speaking directly from inside the Gaza Strip.

A witness, survivor, and documenter of Israel’s genocide on Gaza, Shrouq Al Aila is a Palestinian journalist, producer, and researcher who has been reporting from inside Gaza throughout the ongoing genocide.

She is the director of Ain Media, an independent production company co-founded by her husband, Rushdi Sarraj, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on October 22, 2023.

In this episode, Shrouq speaks about her return to Gaza after the genocide began, the day she lost her husband, the assassination of her colleagues at Ain Media, and the daily toll of famine, grief, and survival.

She also reflects on the Western feminist silence around the femicide in Gaza, and the Emmy award she recently received for her work, a recognition dedicated to those who gave everything to tell the truth. “Rushdi gave me a press vest, thinking it would protect me. But here, that vest marks you as a target.”

Despite repeated displacement, personal loss, and ongoing danger, Shrouq has remained in Gaza to continue reporting the truth from the ground. Her work not only exposes Israel’s war crimes and the Western media’s complicity but also stands as a frontline act of resistance, ensuring that Palestinian stories are told, and that memory is not erased.

Rushdi Sarraj (1992 – 2023) was a 31-year-old Palestinian filmmaker and co-founder of Ain Media – a Gaza-based Independent media production company.

Hala Hanina is a social and political activist from Gaza. She is currently completing a PhD in politics and sociology, focusing on Palestinian women at the intersection of colonial and patriarchal violence.