Fatima Hassouna ( ; 1999 – 16 April 2025), sometimes spelled Fatma Hassona, was a Palestinian

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

whose work documented civilian life during the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

. She gained international recognition for her visceral documentation of war impacts and became the subject of the documentary film ''

Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk ''Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk'' is a 2025 documentary film directed by Sepideh Farsi, depicting life in Gaza during the ongoing Israeli military campaign, captured through Farsi's video calls with a young woman living there. A co-prod ...

'', selected for the

ACID An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis ...

film programme shown in parallel with the

2025 Cannes Film Festival The 78th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 2025. French actress Juliette Binoche served as jury president for the main competition. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the drama ...

. She was killed alongside ten family members in an Israeli airstrike on their

Gaza City Gaza City, also called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Port of Gaza, Palestine's only port. With a population of ...

home on 16 April 2025.

Life

Hassouna was born in Gaza City in 1999 and graduated with a multimedia degree from the

University College of Applied Sciences University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS) is a technical college in Gaza, Palestine founded in 1998. It offers 40 majors in engineering, health, technology, administration, education and the humanities. The school had a student population o ...

in Gaza. She began documenting life in Gaza after the

October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

. As one of few local journalists able to document the war after Israel banned foreign reporters from Gaza, Hassouna chronicled forced civilian evacuations under Israeli military orders; destruction of infrastructure from airstrikes; civilian casualties and funeral rituals; and moments of resilience, including children playing in ruins. On 15 April 2025, she posted her final

Instagram story Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters, be organized by hashtags, and be associated with a location via ...

showing a Gaza sunset with the caption: "It's the first sunset in a long time". ''

'' (2025), directed by

Sepideh Farsi Sepideh Farsi (; born 1965) is an Iranian film director. Early life and education Born in a politically active, left-wing family, Farsi became an activist at a young age. She moved from Tehran to Mashhad shortly before the 1979 revolution, and sp ...

, features video conversations between Hassouna and the director, Sepideh Farsi. The film was selected for Cannes' ACID parallel section, an independent film programme shown during the official Cannes Film Festival. In their final exchange, Hassouna told Farsi: "I'll come to Cannes, but I have to return to Gaza. I don't want to leave". Hassouna and ten relatives including her pregnant sister were killed when an Israeli missile struck their family home in Gaza City's Al-Touffah neighborhood on 16 April 2025. The attack occurred one day after her documentary's selection for Cannes was announced. She had previously written on social media "If I die, I want a loud death". Hassouna was one of at least 175 journalists killed in Gaza, Lebanon and Israel by April 2025 according to press freedom groups. An investigation by UK research group

Forensic Architecture Forensic Architecture is a multidisciplinary research group based at Goldsmiths, University of London that uses architectural techniques and technologies to investigate cases of state violence and violations of human rights around the world. The ...

concluded Hassouna's death was the result of a targeted attack – the missiles dropped by the Israeli military had "specifically targeted the Hassona family’s apartment on Floor 2" of the five-floor building. The

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

stated they targeted "a

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

member involved in attacks against Israeli soldiers", claiming use of precision weapons. Sepideh Farsi rejected this justification, stating: "I know the whole family. It's nonsense".

References

External links

*
''Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk''
at Film-documentaire.fr
"Democracy Now Interviews Sepideh Farsi"

"A Resonant Death: Poems & Reflections" by Fatima Hassouna
at '' ArabLit'' magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Hassouna, Fatima 1999 births 2025 deaths 21st-century Palestinian journalists 21st-century Palestinian photographers 21st-century Palestinian women 21st-century women journalists 21st-century women photographers Assassinated Palestinian journalists Civilians killed in the Israel–Hamas war Deaths by Israeli airstrikes during the Israel–Hamas war Extrajudicial killings by the Israeli military Journalists from Gaza City Journalists from the Gaza Strip Journalists killed by Israeli security forces Palestinian people of the Israel–Hamas war Palestinian photojournalists Palestinian reporters and correspondents Palestinian war correspondents Palestinian women journalists Photographers from Gaza City War photographers

Life

See also

References

External links