Gaza Instagram stars offer world ‘beautiful’ glimpse into blockaded Palestinian territory in hope of changing perceptions
Kholoud Nassar and Fatma Mosabah want their 100,000 followers to see a different side of Gaza. But because of their digital pursuits, the women have faced online trolls and offline opposition
They may not be able to leave Gaza without Israeli or Egyptian permission, but their photos can.
Kholoud Nassar, 26, and Fatma Mosabah, 21, are among a small number of Instagram stars in the blockaded Palestinian enclave, showing followers a different side of their homeland from that which much of the world may be used to hearing or seeing on the news.
“I see Instagram as a window,” says Nassar, wearing a pink hijab and fiddling with a toy car that features in many of her pictures. Mosabah says: “When I open the internet I can talk to people across the world.”
Is social media killing art or bringing it to the people?
Both have more than 100,000 followers on the social platform and say they get recognised multiple times a day in the tiny territory that is home to almost two million people.
Sealed off by Israel to the east and north, Egypt to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, it is impossible for Gazans to leave the enclave without permission. Neither woman has left Gaza in more than a decade. Israel also refuses to give permits for tourists to visit the strip, leaving most people outside to imagine life there.
And with three wars having been fought since 2008 between the strip’s rulers Hamas and Israel, many people’s ideas of Gaza centre on devastation, poverty and suffering. The women use Instagram, with its focus on pictures over text and political arguments, to show another side.