Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, pictured in 2008, when Al-Udaini first began reporting.
Wafa Al-Udaini was born in Deir Al- Balah in 1985. She attendedAl Aqsa University where she majored in English, with the intention of becoming a teacher and translator.[1]
Journalism career
After graduation, Al-Udaini started a career in journalism, reporting from Gaza first in 2008.[2] In 2009, she started the media group 16 October, where she mentored young Gazan media professionals.[3][4]
In August 2024, Al-Udaini reported on the deaths of her journalist colleagues in Gaza, recounting how their press affiliations did not protect them from violence in Gaza.[7]
Death
On 29 September 2024, Al-Udaini was killed alongside her husband and two of her children in an Israeli airstrike on her home in Deir Al-Balah.[3][8][9] She became the 174th journalist to die reporting in Gaza since October 2023.[10][11]
