‘I want a resounding death,’ Gaza journalist wrote before strike killed her

When war again came to Gaza in late 2023, Palestinian photographer Fatma Hassona began documenting all aspects of life: death, displacement, destruction, children celebrating during Eid, relief as people were allowed to return to northern Gaza during a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas this year.

Despite the challenges she faced, the 25-year-old was planning for the future: She was engaged to be married this summer and received news last Tuesday that a documentary about her life in Gaza during the war had been accepted to Acid Cannes, which runs alongside the Cannes Film Festival in France.

A day later, she and family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike at their home in Gaza City, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists – becoming one of the scores of Palestinian media workers killed in 18 months of war. “The international community’s failure … to protect Palestinian journalists has ravaged Gaza’s press corps,” the group said in a post marking Hassona’s death.

The Israeli military said Saturday that the target of the attack was a militant from Hamas’ Gaza City Brigade, whom it said “planned and executed” attacks against Israeli troops and civilians. It added: “Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.”

Hassona was aware of the dangers she faced in Gaza. “If I die, I want a resounding death,” she wrote in a social media post months before she was killed, explaining that she didn’t want to be just a statistic. “I 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 is buried.”

Sepideh Farsi, an Iranian filmmaker living in France who directed the documentary about Hassona, described her as “a friend, sister, a talented artist, a photographer.”

Hassona, known as Fatem to her loved ones, had grown up in successive wars, Farsi said in an interview: “But she told me, ‘This time, I know it’s different. It is a different level of war that is being conducted against us. I feel it, and I see it.’ ”

The photographer “lost a dear friend of hers” in an Israeli attack, Farsi said: Mahasen al-Khatib, a graphic designer from Gaza who documented her experiences in the north and whose death Hassona mourned on her Instagram page. “She told me that sometimes she feared that this would happen to her, as well,” Farsi said.

According to figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 176 journalists have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since Israel launched the war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023 – “making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.” In a separate count, a United Nations official said this week that 209 journalists, including those who died on duty or while at home, have been killed in Gaza alone since the war began.

Last month, an Israeli airstrike in the north killed Al Jazeera reporter Hossam Shabat, months after the Israeli military accused him of being a member of Hamas – an allegation rejected by Al Jazeera and condemned by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Shortly after, Shabat’s supporters shared a statement they said he had written before his death. “If you’re reading this, it means I have been killed – most likely targeted – by the Israeli occupation forces,” the message read. “When this all began, I was only 21 years old – a college student with dreams like anyone else.”

The Israeli military denies accusations that it deliberately targets journalists, saying in a statement Saturday that it “takes all operationally feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians including journalists.”

More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to its Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians but says the majority have been women and children. In 2023, Hamas killed an estimated 1,200 people – including more than 300 soldiers – and took 251 others hostage. Most of the hostages have been released in deals, but 24 are still believed to be alive in Gaza.

Acid Cannes, which will show the documentary featuring Hassona, “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk,” paid tribute to her in a statement: “Her smile was as magical as her tenacity: bearing witness, photographing Gaza, distributing food despite the bombs, the grief, and the hunger.”

Hassona was “very happy, extremely excited,” about the film’s selection, Farsi said.

Both knew it would be difficult for the photographer to leave Gaza to attend the festival, Farsi said, but she had agreed to try: “She said, ‘Okay I’ll come, but under the condition that I go back to Gaza after the festival. … I can’t leave Gaza, my Gaza needs me, my Gaza needs me.’ That’s how she would phrase it. And she said that the Israeli occupation wants us all to leave and so that they can take our land and we will not do that, let that happen.”

The head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees said last week that Palestinian journalists have paid “a heavy price” for their “heroic work.”

Philippe Lazzarini also noted in a message on X that Israeli authorities have banned international media from entering Gaza to report independently since the war began – a decision he said is “fueling propaganda, disinformation and the spread of dehumanization.”

Hassona had “an outstanding voice and life,” Farsi said. “And I hope that what has happened now can at least help us push her work further and help this war to end.”