A year has passed since the most recent destructive episode in the Middle East, the beginning of which is attributed to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israeli soil. Asymmetrical warfare on the ground has been coupled with a battle of narratives in the media, certainly nothing new. However, social media provides live feeds of scenes showing Palestinian suffering like nothing ever before recorded. And the scale has also changed: the Israeli offensive in Gaza has caused an estimated 42,000 deaths, with nearly 100,000 injured, not counting the displacement of 1.9 million Palestinians, widespread famine and the destruction of 80% of the Strip’s infrastructure, including its hospital network. 

At the beginning of 2024, the International Court of Justice acknowledged that Palestinians have the right to be protected from acts of genocide. The decision came at the request of South Africa, which asked the court to take interim measures to stop Israel’s “genocidal conduct.” However, the war continues not only in Gaza, but has also spread to the West Bank and Lebanon, with repercussions in both Syria and Yemen. UN Security Council Resolution 2735 (June 2024) proposing a comprehensive ceasefire has not been honored. Meanwhile, the Netanyahu government advances relentlessly in its objectives, which seem to include a major conflagration holding Tehran in its sights, while Washington sends arms, Brussels watches on and Israeli occupation expands. 

Within this disturbing context, how is one to cover the conflict and what lessons have been learned from previous wars to help understand the present? Even for news professionals, it is not easy to break through the blinding haze of observations, narratives, data, propaganda and images which we continue to be shown every day. 

At a time full of pressing questions, Casa Árabe has invited journalists Javier Gutiérrez and Patricia Simón to share their recent experiences and engage in a conversation about these fronts opened up in the Middle East. 

Javier Gutiérrez is a journalist with TVE’s International News Department. He was a correspondent in the Middle East from 2019 to 2022 based in Jerusalem. Since

 he last war broke out, he has returned to the area five times, the last just a few days ago on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks of October 7. 

In 2021, he covered the previous war in Gaza between Palestinian militias (Hamas and the Islamic Jihad) and the Israeli army. He has provided coverage many times from the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, where he has delved into Israeli colonization policies. In addition to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he has covered the war in Ukraine on several occasions over the past two years. 

Patricia Simón is a reporter, investigative journalist and writer. Author of Miedo (“Fear,” published by Debate in 2022) and Lo que la guerra transforma (“What War Transforms,” Flash, 2022), among other books. She has covered more than twenty-five countries, including Libya, Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon. Specializing in human rights and eco-feminism, her career has been given acknowledgment by the Spanish Association of Women in the Media Award in 2013, the Manuel Chaves Nogales International Award and the Good Non-sexist Communication Practices granted by the Association of Women Journalists of Catalonia (ADPC) in 2022.She was a co-founder and assistant director of the online medium Periodismo Humano. She has worked in television, radio, the written press and documentary production companies, and she collaborates with different media, such as La Marea, 5W, Cadena Ser, Carne Cruda, Univisión and El País.