Bisan Owda

Bisan Owda (بيسان عودة; born 1997 or 1998) is a Palestinian journalist, activist, and filmmaker. She is best known for her social media videos documenting her experiences during the Israel–Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. She won a 2024 Peabody Award in the News category for her Al Jazeera Media Network show, "It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive."

Early life
Owda grew up in Beit Hanoun. She was interested in storytelling from a young age, as well as reading, basketball, and astronomy.

Career
Owda has worked with the United Nations on gender equality as a member of UN Women's Youth Gender Innovation Agora Forum. Owda has also worked with the European Union on climate change, and is an EU Goodwill Ambassador. Owda has produced a show, Hakawatia, which is aired by Roya TV. She also presented educational Palestinian Arabic videos for the YouTube channel Easy Languages. Owda works for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

During a May 2021 escalation in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Owda shared videos on Instagram with the goal of drawing international attention to conditions in Gaza. During the Israel–Hamas war, which began in October 2023, Owda garnered attention for her semi-regular video and livestream updates on social media documenting Palestinian civilians' experiences. She became known for opening her videos with some variation of the phrase, "I'm still alive". Her videos are mostly in English, though some are in Arabic. As of 15October, Owda had accumulated over 180,000 followers on Instagram.

After the Israel Defense Forces told Gaza residents to evacuate in October 2023, Owda and her parents relocated from Beit Hanoun to Al-Shifa Hospital. Her family's home and her office in Rimal were both bombed, destroying all of Owda's filming equipment. From Al-Shifa Hospital, Owda documented everyday life on social media. Owda witnessed the Al-Shifa ambulance airstrike on 3 November. She was displaced from Al-Shifa Hospital after it was sieged in mid-November. She continued to report on these conditions as she experienced them. By 20November, she had 2million followers, and by 5 December, she had accumulated over 3 million followers. By May 2024, Owda had accumulated 4.1million followers.