Since the beginning of the war, maintaining live coverage from Gaza, Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and the Israel-Lebanon border has been challenging. But our journalists in the region have risen to the challenge, using creative solutions to provide customers with round-the-clock coverage.
Once the ground operation started and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians evacuated northern Gaza, including our own crew, having a live of the north of the Gaza Strip where much of the fighting was taking place was key from a journalistic and competitive point of view.
With no options inside of northern Gaza, the team secured a position in southern Israel, from which it was possible to see the airstrikes, the destruction of buildings and the devastating effects of the war in Gaza. The live has remained up 24/7 for more than a month.
In recent days, when the ceasefire and exchange of hostages for prisoners began, the crews in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel were deployed to cover all possible points to be able to see the live release of hostages/prisoners and reunions with families.
The video team in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel spent long hours in the sun and, sometimes, the rain, covering the returns of hostages to Israel, releases of prisoners and their returns to the West Bank. Those have been supplemented by pick-up from the Rafah Crossing: The video team in Cairo made contact with a local television station that was broadcasting with camera and drone footage. They convinced the network to allow the AP to broadcast their images on direct and show the world the moment the hostages left the Gaza Strip and entered Egypt. Those efforts in Gaza, Egypt, the West Bank and Israel allowed AP to provide more than seven live shots almost simultaneously using Live U and Bambuser.
While attention has been heavily focused on the Israel-Hamas war, tension also ratcheted up in northern Israel, with near-daily shelling between the Israeli military and Hezbollah. The crew in Lebanon moved to the south of the country from where they provided live coverage of the strikes on both sides of the border.
AP lives were used by NBC, Al Jazeera, BBC, Sky News, Israeli channels and other media around the globe. Additionally, our live streams have been used on AP digital platforms and member digital platforms throughout the war.
For dedication and creativity in providing invaluable eyes on the Israel-Hamas war, the teams in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, Egypt and Lebanon win this week’s Best of the Week — First Winner.
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