Gaza Now News Network
Arabic: غزة الآن
Formation2006
FounderMustafa Ayyash[1]
TypeNews agency
HeadquartersGaza City, Gaza, Palestine
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsWire service, News, Photos, Video
Official language
Arabic, English
Parent organization
Hamas
Websitegazaalan.net

Gaza Now News Network is a Palestinian news agency in Gaza. It is the biggest news agency established in Gaza. The agency becomes popular during 2023 Israel–Hamas war.[2][3] It is considered one of the most important Palestinian news agency operating in the Gaza Strip. This agency was established in 2006 and since then it has been striving to provide diverse content that meets the needs and interests of the Palestinian public in the Gaza Strip and outside it.[4] The telegram channel of the agency had 350,000 followers when the war broke out, now has nearly 2 million subscribers. It often reposts Hamas posts.[5]

Television

The agency runs a television channel named Gaza Now. Its schedule includes entertainment programs that provide entertainment and fun for viewers, in addition to news programs that work to provide the audience with the latest developments and news in the Gaza Strip area and its surrounding areas.[4] The satellite channel broadcast the events of 2023 Israel–Hamas war throughout the day without stopping. The channel broadcasts daily events taking place throughout the State of Palestine with a variety of news, political, cultural and sports programs.[6][7][8]

Description

On 24 May 2017, Gaza Now illegally live-streamed an execution of an Israeli-spy agent made by Hamas.[9] The interior ministry warned against publishing any footage or photos from the execution. Gaza Now responded by saying that they hadn't received any decision from the Interior Ministry or from the Media Office in Gaza to prevent the filming of the execution. Human Rights Watch condemned the live-streaming.[9]

A report on May 27, 2021 said that the Gaza Now page on Facebook is a documented page of a media organization followed by millions that is trying to discourage those who like it and encourage them to stop following it and follow the page’s content as part of the fight against Palestinian content.[10] A Facebook software engineer documented a discouraging warning message that appears to anyone who tries to like Gaza Now, a verified page for a media organization followed by 4 million people. The message attempts to discourage those who like and encourage them to undo it based on the content of the page. The software engineer tried to like dozens of similar Israeli pages reporting the same events and did not receive a similar message even once.[10]

The telegram channel of Gaza Now was hacked on 9 December 2022. The hackers deleted all contents from the channel. Palestinians on social media blamed Israeli hackers on the incident.[11]

On 13 October 2023, six days into the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Gaza Now quietly made the decision to disable emoji reactions and retroactively remove them from all previous posts. The motive behind this remains unclear.[12]

On October, 2023 Telegram blocked Gaza Now news account on versions of Telegram downloaded from Google Play or Apple’s App Store as a part of quietly restricting access to several channels affiliated with the Hamas. But the channel was still accessible from the online version of Telegram and the version of the app downloaded directly from Telegram’s website.[13][14][15] Before that, Gaza Now announced that, unlike other social media platforms, Telegram refused to take down Palestinian channels disseminating content related to the ongoing conflict.[12]

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) aircraft committed a massacre against the family of Mustafa Ayyash, founder and director of Gaza Now along with Gaza Now's photojournalist Mohammad Moin Ayyash on 23 November 2023 ahead of temporary ceasefire.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "الاحتلال الإسرائيلي يرتكب مجزرة بحق عائلة مالك موقع "غزة الآن" مصطفى عياش". Gaza Now (in Arabic). 23 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "Terror-gram: Hamas channels on Telegram are soaring - and Israel can't do anything". CTech. 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Hamas turns to social media to get its message out — and to spread fear". Washington Post. 18 October 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  4. 1 2 "تردد قناة غزة الآن Gaza now الجديد علي النايل سات 2023". Akher News (in Arabic). 31 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  5. ↑ "The Telegram app has been a key platform for Hamas. Now it's being restricted there". NPR. 31 October 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  6. ↑ "تردد قناة غزة الان Gaza now الجديد 2023 علي الاقمار الصناعيه". Akhbrna News (in Arabic). Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "تردد قناة غزة الأن مباشر الجديد 2024 Gaza now". Matn News (in Arabic). 9 October 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  8. ↑ "تردد قناة غزة الآن؛ تعرف على أهم خطوات تنزيل الفضائية الإخبارية". Faharas TV (in Arabic). Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  9. 1 2 "Hamas executes 3 members accused of killing terror leader". Times of Israel. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  10. 1 2 "Amid Israeli–Palestinian Violence, Facebook Employees Are Accusing Their Company Of Bias Against Arabs And Muslims". BuzzFeed News. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  11. ↑ "The popular "Gaza Now" Telegram channel was apparently hacked, and all of its content deleted". Abu Ali Express. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  12. 1 2 "Emojis of Terror: Telegram's Role in Perpetuating Extremism in the October 2023 Hamas-Israel War". G-net Research. 23 October 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  13. ↑ "Telegram restricts access to Hamas channels on Google, Apple stores". Al Jazeera. 3 November 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  14. ↑ "Messaging app Telegram blocks Hamas channels on Android as conflict rages on". CNBC. 25 October 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  15. ↑ "Israel war: Telegram blocks Hamas' channels on Android". Times of India. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  16. ↑ "«عياش».. صحفي استُشهد 12 من أسرته في القصف الإسرائيلي". El Watan News (in Arabic). 28 November 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.


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