Yahia Barzaq, a Palestinian journalist with Cypriot origins who worked as a source for the Turkish Cypriot media outlet Bugun Kibris, was killed alongside several civilians in an Israeli airstrike on Deir al-Balah on Tuesday evening, 30 September 2025.
According to Bugun Kibris, Barzaq had fled Gaza City with his family, walking approximately 20 kilometres to seek refuge in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza after Israel announced its attack against Gaza City.
The married father of two worked as a journalist collaborating with the Turkish media outlet TRT and was known before the war as a newborn photographer in Gaza, recognised for his creativity and professional achievements.
Bugun Kibris reports that Barzaq had repeatedly contacted the Turkish Consulate in Jerusalem requesting evacuation for himself and his family, and ran social media campaigns seeking assistance, but these efforts proved unsuccessful. In his final messages to Bugun Kibris, he expressed both anger and desperation about the situation facing displaced families.
“I swear to you, my hands are trembling with anger as I speak. All the threatened places are now in residential areas. The occupation forces started dropping leaflets telling us to go south. But I don’t want to go south. I don’t want to live on the street, in a tent. I’ve already experienced a year and a half of displacement suffering. Now I don’t want to live the same nightmare again,” Barzaq wrote in one message.
In another message, he stated: “I can’t think. I don’t want to be displaced, nor do I want to expose my children to fear. But even if we go, we won’t be able to live safely in a tent on the street. We have neither a tent nor transportation to go to the place the army calls a ‘safe zone’. Besides, the place they want us to go is constantly being bombed.”
“We’re at war now; we’re not alone. My wife’s family is with us, her elderly parents and aunts over 80 years old. My brother is also in the same area with his mother-in-law, they’re also elderly and injured. We’re so crowded that we can’t think clearly, our displacement is impossible. We’re exhausted, living completely in a nightmare,” he added.
(Source: Bugun Kibris)
