Sudden Gaza spokesgirl: ‘This is my third war … but this is the worst one’

This is part of our series on young voices in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. America Tonight also profiled a 22-year-old American living in Israel, whose music video, recorded in a bomb shelter, became an anthem for the Israeli side of the war. Read her story. 

Ordinarily after a month of fasting, 16-year-old Farah Baker would have spent last Monday's Eid holiday visiting friends and buying chocolates and new clothes. Instead, she huddled at home with family, in the dark, tweeting as Israeli bombs dropped nearby in Gaza.

The sounds were deafening and the fear palpable, at least over social media, where Baker shared Vine videos, photos and tweets through the night describing what she felt and saw.

"The only sound we could hear was F-16s bombing, people shouting and ambulances, fire engines," she later told America Tonight. "And the only light we could see is flares."

Though terrified herself, Baker tried to comfort her 6-year-old sister Namar.

"She keeps shaking and crying and she is so angry all the time," Baker explained. "I tell her, ‘Don't worry, this is OK, we will not die.’ But she don't believe me."

The shelling continued through the night. By the next day, Baker's tweets had gone viral, a minute-by-minute diary of a girl living amid war. Her intimate broadcasts and anti-Israel commentary propelled her into the position of sudden spokesgirl. After all, she is like so many others in Gaza: young, afraid – and supportive of Hamas.

With tens of thousands of new followers, Baker was flooded with messages of support.

"When I'm scared, I just open Twitter to see what people tell me," she explained. "I am stronger every day because I see people encouraging me and retweeting what I say, and many people started caring about Palestine and Gaza."

She also gets support from her friends, whom she doesn't see in person during the war, but still chats with over Facebook.

"They are exactly like me. They just stay at home, watching TV or hearing the radios if we have electricity, but nothing else."

Baker's father is a doctor at the nearby Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, which is struggling to keep up with the number of wounded, now at 6,500 according to the Gazan Health Ministry.

"My dad says most of the wounded are civilians," Baker said. "He says that he can't stand seeing people. He sees them cut into pieces and full of blood, and some of them are burned. So he says that he has to travel to enjoy his life after what he sees."

More than 40 percent of the Strip's population is under the age of 14, according to the CIA World Factbook. Baker's short life, like that of her friends, has been punctuated by conflict.

"This is my third war that I have witnessed," she said. "But this is the worst one."

On Twitter, she prays for Hamas rockets to hit their targets in Israel. And she's unafraid of using strong images to convey her point and the anger she feels. One of her tweets, for example, depicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu feasting on a Palestinian child with blood dripping from his mouth. 

"I love them and support them," Baker said of Hamas. "Because they defend us. If we did not have them, Israelis would be walking among us and killing us. They are defending us absolutely."

And she is adamant about whom she believes is to blame for the current conflict.

"I actually want to let the whole world know what exactly happens in Gaza, because some of them say that Israel is the targeted, and we start the wars against Israel," she said. "But I see that the occupied city can never start a war on the occupation."

And as the bombs continue to fall, she's keeping her eye on her goal to one day become a lawyer.

"I want to bring some of our rights back," she said. "I will focus on Palestinians and the Palestinian problems. I will try to free some of us. I will try to break the siege, or do anything. I just want to help Gaza and Palestine."

Tune in Monday night at 9 p.m. for our profile of a young woman in Israel who’s using social media and music to share her experience of life under fire from Hamas.