As bombs exploded in Gaza, Palestinian teenager Farah Baker grabbed her smartphone or laptop before ducking for cover to tap out tweets that captured the drama of the tumult and fear around her.
The 16-year-old’s prolific posts on Twitter have made her a social media sensation throughout the conflict.
Once a little-known high-school athlete, Baker’s following on the Web site has jumped from 800 to a staggering 166,000.
Living near Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, where her father is a surgeon, provided Baker with a live feed of blaring ambulance sirens in addition to blasts from Israeli air strikes and shelling attacks.
Baker often recorded these and posted video clips to provide followers with a personal glimpse of the war. A tweet from Aug. 1 included a link to a video of a darkened street punctuated by the sounds of repeated explosions.
In another tweet Baker tells of hiding from the shelling at home.
“I am trying to tell the world about what I feel and what is happening where I live,” Baker told reporters at her Gaza home, adding that she has been “trying to make other people feel as if they are experiencing it too.”
Baker, whose Twitter profile picture shows a blue-eyed frightened looking young woman calling herself “Guess what” or @Farah_Gazan, said she is surprised at the popularity she has garnered.
“I did not expect it. I was writing for a small circle of people, and the number has become too many,” the Gazan teenager said.
Baker dreams of becoming a lawyer, hoping to use that profession as a means to advocate for crowded and impoverished Gaza.
It is not always easy to overcome her fears to tweet, but she said she felt compelled to go on.
“I see this is the only way I can help Gaza, showing what is happening here. Sometimes I tweet while am crying or too scared, but I tell myself, I should not stop,” Baker said.
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