Fatima Hassouna, a war documentarian who had covered the conflict in Gaza on the ground for 18 months, was killed along with seven members of her family in an Israeli strike this week. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I die, I want a resounding death, I do not want me in urgent news, nor in a number with a group,\u201d Hassouna wrote in a post on Instagram in August 2024. \u201cI want a death that the world hears, an effect that remains for the extent of the ages, and immortal images that neither time nor space buries,\u201d added the photojournalist, who is the subject of a new documentary to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival next month. <\/p>\n
The Palestinian Journalists\u2019 Protection Center (PJPC) said it mourns the loss of Hassouna. It said that the strike that killed her targeted her family\u2019s home on Al-Nafaq Street in Gaza City and also killed several of her family members. It described the attack as a \u201ccrime\u201d against journalists and a violation of international law. <\/p>\n
\u201cFatima\u2019s powerful photos documenting life under siege were published globally, shedding light on the human toll of the war,\u201d the center said. <\/p>\n
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday that the target was \u201ca terrorist in Hamas\u2019 Gaza City Brigade\u201d and that steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. \u201cThe terrorist planned and executed terror attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians,\u201d the IDF said in a statement without providing further details. <\/p>\n
Hassouna posted her photos on Facebook and Instagram, where she had more than 35,000 followers. Her images documented the challenges of everyday life in Gaza and the threat of living under Israeli bombardment. <\/p>\n
She was featured in Sepideh Farsi\u2019s documentary film, Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk, which has been selected to be screened in the ACID section at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in May 2025. A director\u2019s statement describes the film as \u201ca window, opened through a miraculous encounter with Fatima\u201d into the \u201congoing massacre of the Palestinians.\u201d <\/p>\n
Following the news of Hassouna\u2019s death, the Iranian film director on Friday shared a photo on social media featuring herself on camera with Hassouna, who was smiling. \u201cMy last image of her is a smile. I cling to it today,\u201d Farsi wrote alongside the picture. <\/p>\n
Farsi said the last time she contacted Hassouna was one day before her death to give her \u201cthe happy news\u201d about the documentary. \u201cWe both discussed her traveling to France in May to present the documentary in Cannes with me, since she is the main protagonist,\u201d Farsi said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was a mistake when I heard about her death,\u201d Farsi added. \u201cI hope this documentary will shed light on her life in Gaza and serve as a tribute to her memory.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to the PJPC, the number of journalists who have died in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, has risen to 212, an unprecedented toll according to numerous journalist groups. The organization called on the international community to open an immediate investigation into the incident and hold those responsible to account. <\/p>\n
Hassouna\u2019s neighbor, Um Aed Ajur, described Hassouna as proud of the work she was doing. She questioned the strike on her house, saying she and her family \u201chave no connection\u201d to any group. \u201cWe have been neighbors for 35 years and have never heard that they are connected to any (group),\u201d she added. <\/p>\n
Hassouna\u2019s final post on her Facebook page was a series of photos of Gaza fishermen by the sea last Saturday, less than a week before she was killed. She posted the pictures with a short poem. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom here you get to know the city. You enter it, but you don\u2019t leave, because you won\u2019t leave, and you can\u2019t,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Fatima Hassouna, a war documentarian who had covered the conflict in Gaza on the ground for 18 months, was killed along with seven members of her family in an Israeli strike this week. \u201cIf I die, I want a resounding death, I do not want me in urgent news, nor in a number with a <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}