Meta on Friday, March 15, suspended the Facebook account of prominent Palestinian journalist Motaz Azaiza, who has been documenting the impact of the Israel’s war on Gaza.
Taking to Instagram, Motaz has shared a screenshot of message from Facebook and captioned it, “Facebook is messing with me.”
In the screenshot, the message read, “We suspended your account Motaz Azaiza.” The message further said that he has 180 days to appeal or his account will be permanently disabled.
Who is Motaz?
A 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist from Gaza Strip captured global attention by filming himself in a press vest and helmet during Israel’s war, which has killed more than 31,000 people in Strip since October 7, 2023.
Motaz’s coverage frequently featured unfiltered videos of injured children or families crushed under rubble following Israeli air strikes.
Since October 7, his Instagram following has grown significantly from 27,500 to 18.6 million.
Motaz, after months of documenting Israeli atrocities, left Gaza through Egypt to Qatar in January.