The Palestinian photographer Fatma Hassouna. Photo shared on X.
Palestinian photographer Fatma Hassouna died on April 16, 2025, alongside 10 family members, all killed by an Israeli strike on their home in al-Tuffah district in the northeast of Gaza City, according to the French daily Libération.
Hassouna had survived a strike on Jan. 13, 2024, which killed 12 members of her family.
Hassouna's name now joins those of the 156 other Palestinian journalists and media professionals killed in Gaza since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
With her striking photos, Hassouna, a multimedia graduate, captured daily life under Israeli bombs for Palestinians in the enclave, who are forced into displacement daily, and are constantly mourning the loss of relatives to incessant bombardments. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 51,100 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the war.
Hassouna dreamed of traveling but vowed she would never leave Gaza. She was the star of the documentary by director Sepideh Farsi, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, which she will never get to see, announced in the selection of the Association of Independent Cinema for screening at the Cannes Festival, scheduled for May 13-24.
Made from online conversations between the two women over a year, Farsi describes her film as "a window" that allowed her "to see fragments of the ongoing massacre of Palestinians" in Gaza. There, Hassouna became her eyes, she writes, maintaining their relationship as "a lifeline." The photographer had begun proceedings to obtain a visa and attend the documentary screening, reports Libération.
In her interview with the French daily, Farsi speaks of the artist as a courageous young woman, "in a hurry to reach massacre sites to take photos despite the frequent risk of a second Israeli attack" at the same location.
Hassouna, daughter of a taxi driver, had never left the Palestinian enclave and mainly photographed her neighborhood and surroundings. When asked about potential changes to the documentary after Hassouna's death was announced, Farsi said she was torn between "wanting both to integrate other things and not to touch [it]."
"[Hassouna] said ‘the Israeli occupation wants to eliminate us, take our lands, they want us to leave and we will stay. I will never leave Gaza,'" said Farsi.
Farsi, reports Libération, vowed to mount an exhibition devoted to Hassouna's work in Paris. The photographer had 27,000 followers on her Instagram account, which she updated daily.
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