Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Netherlands
fellow
Amal Helles
Country of origin (home institution)
Palestinian Territories
Discipline(s)
Information and communication sciences
Theme(s)
Contemporary violence & Justice
Gender, Family & Youth
Human Rights
Peace & conflict
Fellowship dates
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Biography
Amal was a Safe Haven Fellow at NIAS during 2024-2025.
Amal Helles is a Palestinian journalist, born in Khan Younis in Gaza. She started her career with local media in Gaza and became a war reporter at the front after October 7, 2023. She reported on displacement, famine and the danger that civilians face on a daily basis. In early 2024, she fled Gaza with her two children and moved to the Netherlands. She was awarded the one-year Safe Haven Fellowship at the NIAS-KNAW (Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study), where she focused on the role of Palestinian women journalists during the war. Now, she continues her journalistic work in exile, dedicated to telling the untold stories of Gaza. Her husband, parents, siblings and the rest of her family are still in Gaza. She carries a deep and constant sense of guilt that she is safe, while they continue to endure war, fear and hardship.
Research Project
Gazan Female Journalists (prominent voices in coverage of the war)
Research question: How and why did female Gazan journalists become the most prominent voices in coverage of the war, and how has their gender impacted their journalism?
Before the war began, many Gazan female journalists – including Amal Helles – were living fairly ordinary lives, working as reporters and taking care of our families. The war changed that. While in Israel, networks and newspapers were sending their foreign correspondents from the US and the UK to report on the ground, western journalists were blocked from entering Gaza. Instead, local journalists – many of them content creators and influencers – stepped in.
Amal: “The work during the war was very difficult. We had to balance being journalists with commitments to our families. I’m a mother, and had to leave my home for long days, leaving my two small children with family in order to work. During my stay at NIAS, I would like to research a project on how and why female journalists in Gaza have become the most prominent voices in coverage of the war. I believe the topic is incredibly relevant, given the ongoing war in Gaza and the lack of information coming from inside the strip. It is also a topic that I understand deeply: it is a life I have lived since the morning of October 7, and long before that as a reporter. “
Research Interests:
war, gender, women, family, human rights, representation, Gaza, journalism