Gazan shares realities of poverty via TikTok
A young man from Gaza is using social media to shed light on the poverty and difficult living conditions of many residents in the besieged enclave amid the lack of action from Palestinian authorities.
Ibrahim Barbakh, a resident of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, broke his silence about the extreme poverty that crippled all aspects of his life. He shares his ordeal on his TikTok account.
Barbakh periodically produces videos portraying the complex living conditions plaguing the lives of the poor in Gaza and broadcasts them on social media platforms. The videos unveil the secrets of poverty that haunt Gazans and send sharp humanitarian messages to officials in Gaza and the West Bank, urging them to end the suffering there.
He is known on social media platforms and by Gaza Strip residents by his user name, Hema. The number of views and followers he earned made him famous on TikTok, where he refers to himself as Abu al-Ghalaba (Arabic for "father of the poor").
Barbakh, 28, is married and has a son. He needs a cornea transplant in his left eye. His health situation did not help him find a suitable source of income amid the scarcity of job opportunities due to the closure of commercial crossings and the tightening of the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza since the summer of 2006.
