Social media platforms are an important tool for expressing the emotions experienced by Gazans during Israel’s war against Hamas, especially among the younger generation of students and online influencers.
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One of the major influencers in Gaza is Saleh Aljafarawi, who has become a familiar figure in Israel during the war. On October 7, he posted a video of himself cheering against the backdrop of rockets fired toward Israel from near his home. A few days later, he posted another video in which he was seen crying and scared, saying that his close family members were killed in IDF attacks.
In a thread on the X (formerly Twitter) social media platform, Daniel Wachtel is compiling posts made by Gazans at the start of the war compared to their thoughts two months later.
For many Gazans, the result is a bleak picture that illustrates the gap between their cheering for the terrible massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7 and the suffering that followed them due to the war.
Silwan, an influencer from Gaza who has garnered 42,000 followers on Instagram, praised Hamas for the attack on October 7. In a post on X, she wrote that despite the "frightening" event, "my happiness knows no bounds."
As the days passed and the IDF began operations in the Strip, it seemed that Silwan was starting to change her mind and understand how the event affects her life, her family's life, and the lives of her friends.
In one of Silwan's posts since the start of the war, she wrote: "The realization that there some messages that will never be answered." In her latest post on X, she wrote: "I don't know how they conquered this country; may Allah curse those who gave them weapons and left us defenseless." Silwan, 29, added to her account the caption “R.I.P - rest in peace” a nod to the possibility that she might be killed during the war.
Anas Matar, a civil engineer and student of architecture and building restoration, has over 60,000 followers on X. He also celebrated the massacre, and on October 7 he posted a picture of an IDF soldier who was killed, writing: "A soldier lies dead at our feet."
Today, Anas sees Hamas' terror attack in a different light. "While you encourage and celebrate because of the videos and the resistance’s achievements, I've been looking for shelter for my people in Gaza since morning, after the tanks approached them. My family has two options: siege and death or displacement," he wrote.
Anas also shared his experience in the days that have passed since the war began. "As usual, clashes intensify during the night, and the sounds of the tanks become very loud. Artillery shelling becomes an alarm clock. We fall asleep once and wake up 10 times, close our eyes to rest and wake up to the sounds of loud explosions and bombings."
Another Gazan influencer is Ahmed Balousha, who has about 13,500 followers on X. "The sword is crossed against the other one; we’re Mohammed Deif’s people," he wrote on the day of the Hamas attack. However, as the days passed, it seemed Ahmed began to realize the situation to which Hamas condemned Gazans in the Strip.
In a post Balousha wrote after the start of the IDF's ground operation into the Gaza Strip, he said: "Who can send me $5,000 to get me out of Gaza? I'm not joking." Ahmed also criticized other Arab countries, claiming that they abandoned Gaza in its difficult hour. "We will never forget, even if we live, we will teach our children that all of the Arabs are traitors, and no one stood by our side or helped us. On the contrary, they stood against us," he wrote.