Bisan Owda

Early life and career Owda grew up in Beit Hanoun. As a member of UN Women's Youth Gender Innovation Agora Forum, she has worked to promote gender equality. She has worked with the European Union on climate change Owda also works for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Owda produces a show for Roya TV called Hakawatia which explores Palestinian history and culture.

During the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, Owda shared videos on Instagram to draw international attention to conditions in Gaza.

Gaza war and genocide (2023–present) During the Gaza war and Gaza genocide, which began in October 2023, Owda garnered attention for her semi-regular video and livestream updates on social media documenting Palestinian civilians' experiences. She became known for opening her videos with some variation of the phrase, "I'm still alive". Her videos are mostly in English, though some are in Arabic. Her work has been shared by BBC News, Al Jazeera, and ABC News. Owda documented the "increasingly critical situation" on social media, reporting a lack of food and water, destruction of solar panels, and bombings. She posted videos of her journey walking south to Khan Yunis in which she described dead bodies on the side of the road and interviewed other refugees. She also reported on the lack of bathrooms and menstrual pads in the Khan Yunis refugee camp.

In a viral Instagram post, Owda joined others in calling for a global strike on December 11 in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. She asked her followers to "boycott everything". The strike was observed by people from multiple countries, including the United States, Lebanon, and the UK. Participants attended protests, closed businesses, and refrained from spending money.

In February 2024, Owda reported on the Flour Massacre. She stated that Palestinians in Gaza were experiencing "forced starvation" and that the IDF had killed them while they were running towards aid trucks.

In April, Owda was one of more than 24 Palestinian journalists who signed a letter calling for other journalists to boycott the White House Correspondents Dinner in protest of the killing of Palestinian journalists and the Israeli blockade of aid to Gaza. Other signatories included Said Arikat, Mariam Barghouti, and Mohammed El Kurd. Later that month, she praised the pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses, saying that they gave her hope.

Recognition Along with other Palestinian journalists, Owda has been credited with humanizing Gaza for an international audience. She has been said to be "providing a human lens", An essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books stated that Owda and other Palestinian journalists reporting from Gaza "charge their viewers with complicity and regularly demand that we act".

Owda's social media followers have expressed concern for her safety.

By early 2024, Owda had been depicted in two murals, one in Edinburgh and one in London.

In May 2024, Owda won a Peabody Award in the News category for her Al Jazeera Media Network show, It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive. In a statement, the Peabody board of jurors wrote: "Reporting from her makeshift tent outside the medical center, she shows what survival looks like for her and the masses around her". The award was presented by Mo Amer, and Owda attended the ceremony via video. In her acceptance speech, Owda dedicated her award to people protesting in support of Palestine and called for: "an end to the genocide, a ceasefire, and a free Palestine".

Emmy award and petition to rescind nomination

In July 2024, It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive was nominated for the 45th News and Documentary Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Short Form. Pro-Israel nonprofit Creative Community for Peace called for the nomination to be rescinded, alleging Owda was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the United States designated as a terrorist organization, and publishing an open letter signed by 150 people involved in the entertainment industry, including Selma Blair, Sherry Lansing, and Debra Messing.

Al Jazeera released a statement criticizing "efforts to silence her reporting from Gaza" and calling the allegations against her "baseless". The network also said this effort threatened her safety, noting Israeli forces had killed 160 journalists since the start of the war.

The national deputy director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations called the petition's signatories "hypocritical", saying that the scrutiny applied to Palestinians would not be applied to an Israeli photographed with Benjamin Netanyahu. On 25 September, the documentary won an Emmy.

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 2024 Peabody Awards NewsIt's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive News and Documentary Emmy Awards Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Short Form Amnesty International Australia Human Rights Defender Award Herself