During a live broadcast from a hospital in war-torn Gaza, Adnan El-Bursh, a BBC Arabic journalist, was overwhelmed by emotion. Tears filled his eyes as he described the heart-wrenching scenes around him. In a moment of vulnerability, he fell to his knees, removed his glasses, and wiped his face.
Adnan and his team had just learned that their friends, relatives, and neighbors were among the injured or killed in the ongoing conflict. The Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip, was inundated with seriously injured patients, and the corridors were filled with traumatic scenes, with bodies strewn about.
In a heartfelt message to the camera, Adnan shared his pain, saying, "This is my local hospital, and inside are my friends, my neighbors; this is my community. Today has been one of the most difficult days in my career. I have witnessed things that will haunt me forever."
The broadcast captured a young girl with a bloodied face, sitting in a hospital bed, crying and covered in dust as a doctor attended to her injured legs.
Adnan revealed that the child had lost her home and her relatives in the conflict, and he couldn't help but think of his own daughter the same age, expressing his desire to offer comfort.
Amid the chaos, Adnan's cameraman, Mahmood, encountered his friend Malik in the hospital, who had miraculously survived, but tragically, his family did not.
This heartbreaking scene unfolded as the United Nations reported that Israel's military had instructed one million Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate the northern areas, further highlighting the ongoing crisis in the region.