Homegrown Instagram influencers highlight Gaza's plight – Al Jazeera

Gaza City – It has been nearly eight months since Yara Eid returned to Gaza after six years in the United Kingdom to study international relations. Not once could the 22-year-old return home during her studies to visit her family in Gaza because of the 15-year Israeli blockade on the coastal enclave and travel restrictions. Eid said she experienced “difficult times” after repeated Israeli attacks on Gaza during her time abroad. “While in the UK, every time there was a bombing on Gaza my heart would stop literally,” Eid told Al Jazeera. “I would be glued to my phone 24/7 trying to call my family to check if they’re okay. It is never peaceful there.” Particularly harrowing, she said, were attacks that occurred after she had returned home – three days of Israeli strikes that started on August 5. Forty-nine Palestinians were killed in an operation targeting Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed group active in Gaza. Nearly half of the dead were civilians, Palestinian officials said. At the time, Eid felt she had to do something, so she decided to use her mobile phone, go out onto the streets to talk about Israel’s air strikes on Gaza and try to…
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