Despite repeated evacuation orders, worsening conditions, and the death of relatives, photojournalist Fatma Hassona, refused to leave north Gaza, staying behind to document the war.
Fatma Hassona, a 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist with a large online following, was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike with at least nine other members of her family.
Hassona is the subject of an upcoming documentary, "Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk," which will screen at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Her death has sparked widespread condemnation and an outpouring of grief from Gaza and around the world.
Despite repeated evacuation orders, the worsening conditions, and the fact that 11 relatives of hers were killed in an Israeli attack last year, Fatma Hassona refused to leave northern Gaza, staying behind to document the war. Amid the devastation, she was also preparing for her wedding – a celebration set for late April.
Last summer, months before her death, Hassona, who was dubbed the "Eye of Gaza," and whose photos appeared in international outlets, wrote a haunting plea in a Facebook post, asking that if she dies in the war, her death will not go unnoticed.
"If I die, I want a loud death," she wrote, "I don't want to be just breaking news, or a number in a group, I want a death that the world will hear, an impact that will remain through time, and a timeless image that cannot be buried by time or place."
Miqdad Jameel, a Gaza-based writer for Lebanon's Al-Akhbar newspaper, urged the public on X to keep Hassona's memory alive: "Speak of her martyrdom. See her photos, read her words – witness Gaza's life, the struggle of its children in war, through her images and her lens."
Anas al-Shareef, an Al Jazeera reporter based in Gaza, posted on X, honoring Hassona as someone who "never left the field since the beginning." He noted that she "documented massacres through her lens amid bombardment and gunfire, capturing the people's pain and screams in her photographs."
Al-Shareef stated that Hassona confronted death daily "without retreating" until the day the Israeli army "carried out its final massacre against her." He added, "The occupation doesn't just kill people; it silences voices, erases images, and buries the truth."
Only a day before Hassona's death, Cannes' ACID program – a sidebar section of the festival run by the French independent cinemas association – announced that a documentary about her, made by Iranian-born filmmaker Sepideh Farsi, will be screened at this year's festival.
On Thursday, ACID posted a tribute to Hassona on Instagram. "Her smile was as magical as her tenacity," their statement said, "bearing witness, photographing Gaza, distributing food despite the bombs, mourning and hunger. We heard her story, rejoiced at each of her appearances to see her alive, we feared for her."
Ahmad Hamdan, an independent Gaza-based journalist, posted on X about the young photojournalist's upcoming wedding, saying she had already chosen a "long-awaited white gown for next week." Instead, he wrote, she will be wrapped in a different "white gown" – a burial shroud.
Another moving tribute came from Haidar Ghazali, Hassona's favorite Gazan poet. Ghazali shared that before her death, Hassona had reached out to him with a request to write a poem for her "when she dies." He replied with a prayer for her safety, but ultimately honored her wish, composing a poem for his departed admirer.
"Today's sun won't bring harm," the poem begins, imagining Fatma's arrival in the afterlife, "the potted plants will rearrange themselves for a gentle guest... Today's sun won't scorch, but embrace the city, like a mother's warmth, tender yet unpracticed."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest American Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, called on the United States and International media to "speak out against Israel's intentional targeting of journalists in Gaza after a Palestinian journalist and 10 members of her family were slaughtered in an Israeli air strike."