A young Palestinian journalist whose coverage of the widespread destruction and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip went viral now watches the war from afar in Lebanon. Twenty-two-year-old Plestia Alaqad was just over a year out of university with a journalism degree when she found herself in the middle of a war zone. She donned a blue press helmet and vest to interview families in refugee camps and hospitals, posting the videos to Instagram. Alaqad landed in Lebanon last month to pursue a master’s degree in media studies at the American University of Beirut after being awarded a scholarship named after iconic Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was killed in 2022 while reporting on an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank.
