Belal Khaled’s photographs bring the horror of life in Gaza to Johannesburg

Haunting images of the war through the lens of Palestinian photojournalist

Photo Essay by IHSAN HAFFEJEE

The haunting image of a Palestinian father holding the feet of his lifeless three-year-old son, killed in an Israeli airstrike, is among photographs taken in Gaza by photojournalist and artist Belal Khaled shown in Johannesburg.

The child’s face is out of the shot, his tiny foot in his father’s hand and his body covered by a white shroud.

An exhibition of Khaled’s work was shown in Ormonde, Johannesburg at the weekend.

In another image, a Palestinian girl carries her two white cats when her family is displaced by Israeli bombing.

Video: Ihsaan Haffejee

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In another photo Abdullah Al-Jouf kisses his child’s body after their home was bombed. Khaled related that Al-Jouf had explained that he had gone to the shop and returned to find that his home had been bombed. His wife and child had been killed.

‘When I saw him, he was talking to his dead child,’ he said.

‘He was telling him that he brought him his favourite biscuits. He placed the biscuits in the shroud with his child’s body and told him to take them with him to heaven,’ said Khaled.

Belal Khaled’s work on display during an exhibition in Johannesburg. From left, a displaced woman places lights around her tent, a father kisses the foot of his dead child, and a family flees the bombing.

Khaled was born in a refugee camp in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. When he was ten, he witnessed the second Intifada, a popular uprising against the Israeli occupation.

He said he was inspired by powerful images of the killing of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah. ‘From that point I dreamt of being a photojournalist, of delivering the stories of Gaza’s people to the world,’ said Khaled.

Visitors look at a photo of a young boy covered in dirt and blood after a bombing.

Khaled said that because Israel was targeting journalists, many of his colleagues had moved out of their homes to protect their families from airstrikes.

‘Many of my colleagues have been killed. Why? Because they are carrying a camera and delivering the truth to the world,’ alleged Khaled.

In the first month of the conflict Khaled’s family home was bombed, injuring his mother and sister. A few months later, their home was completely destroyed. His father still lives in a tent pitched on the rubble where their home once stood.

A photograph of the funeral of a journalist killed during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

‘This is part of our resistance as Palestinians. I can fight with my camera, I can fight with my paintbrush, this is the same for all Palestinians. We are fighting with all our souls,’ said Khaled.

‘I always say that journalists in Gaza have two eyes. One is for seeing and documenting, and the other is for crying for everything that we see,’ said Khaled.

Khaled’s work is being shown today (Wednesday June 25) at the Bo Kaap Cultural Hub in Cape Town. It can also be found on his Instagram page @belalkh.

Women mourn the deaths of relatives in Gaza.

This photo essay was first published by groundup.org.za

Belal Khaled’s photographs bring the horror of life in Gaza to Johannesburg

Haunting images of the war through the lens of Palestinian photojournalist

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