RT Arabic’s Saed Swerki held back tears on Wednesday evening as he reported from the Gaza City hospital, where hundreds perished the evening prior, five of them his relatives.
As Swerki tuned in live from the Ahli Arab Hospital, he revealed that his family members – a cousin and her children – were among those killed on Tuesday evening. The exact number of casualties from the explosion is still being established, though the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has claimed at least 450 have died and over 1,000 were wounded.
It was the second time in a week that Swerki had lost family members. Four of his in-laws were killed on October 11, when their high-rise was obliterated by an Israeli bombing.
“Now is not the time to grieve, otherwise you might lose your mind,” Swerki told RT Arabic on Wednesday. “Now is the time to send a message to the whole world that there are people who do not want to die in silence. By the will of God, we have become the voice of those who are voiceless.”
“Sometimes we struggle with our emotions because we have small children, parents, and grandchildren,” he added. “For example, when I’m on the air and hear some kind of explosion, I immediately fear that my grandson has just been torn to pieces. Such is fate in the time of war.”