BBC journalist breaks down on air while describing situation in Gaza

Adnan El-Bursh, a BBC Arabic journalist based in Gaza, said his family had not had a piece of bread in two days, during an emotional live segment on camera.

“If you want to know the reality of life for journalists in Gaza, I can speak about our reality,” he said on Thursday.

“Yesterday there was a direct bombing on a house next to my family’s house, belonging to my colleague’s family, the Al-Jazeera journalist Wael al-Dahdouh. He lost his wife and a number of his children,” Bursh said. 

“A big residential building was [also] bombed and fragments and rubble hit my colleague Hani’s family. Frankly, the whole team here is suffering from fatigue and extreme tiredness due to the amount of coverage needed.”

He added that there were also family responsibilities to consider. 

“Our families are pleading with us to offer them any sense of safety, but we cannot offer them that, we cannot even offer safety to ourselves,” he said. 

“For the past two days, not even a piece of bread has reached my family. A while ago my daughter called me and told me that there is no bread in the house that we are staying in, are you able to bring us any bread?”  

He then began to explain that two bakeries in the area had been struck, before breaking down live on air.