CNN
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Fatima Hassouna, a struggle documentarian who had coated the battle in Gaza on the bottom for 18 months, was killed together with seven members of her household in an Israeli strike this week.
“If I die, I desire a resounding demise, I don’t want me in pressing information, nor in a quantity with a bunch,” Hassouna wrote in a put up on Instagram in August 2024. “I desire a demise that the world hears, an impact that continues to be for the extent of the ages, and immortal photos that neither time nor area buries,” added the photojournalist, who’s the topic of a brand new documentary to be screened on the Cannes Movie Pageant subsequent month.
The well being ministry in Gaza advised CNN on Friday that Hassouna’s mother and father survived the strike on Wednesday, however each suffered crucial accidents and are in an intensive care unit.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Safety Middle (PJPC) stated it mourns the lack of Hassouna. It stated that the strike that killed her focused her household’s dwelling on Al-Nafaq Road in Gaza Metropolis and likewise killed a number of of her members of the family. It described the assault as a “crime” towards journalists and a violation of worldwide regulation.
“Fatima’s highly effective photographs documenting life below siege had been printed globally, shedding mild on the human toll of the struggle,” the middle stated.
The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) stated on Wednesday that the goal was “a terrorist in Hamas’ Gaza Metropolis Brigade” and that steps had been taken to mitigate the chance of hurt to civilians. “The terrorist deliberate and executed terror assaults towards IDF troops and Israeli civilians,” the IDF stated in an announcement with out offering additional particulars.
Fatima’s cousin Hamza Hassouna recounted the strike to CNN Friday. “I used to be sitting when out of the blue two rockets fell, one subsequent to me and one in the lounge. The home fell on us and every little thing was a catastrophe,” he stated.
Hassouna posted her photographs on Fb and Instagram, the place she had greater than 35,000 followers. Her photos documented the challenges of on a regular basis life in Gaza and the specter of residing below Israeli bombardment.
She was featured in Sepideh Farsi’s documentary movie, Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Stroll, which has been chosen to be screened within the ACID part on the 78th Cannes Movie Pageant in Might 2025. A director’s assertion describes the movie as “a window, opened by means of a miraculous encounter with Fatima” into the “ongoing bloodbath of the Palestinians.”
Following the information of Hassouna’s demise, the Iranian movie director on Friday shared a photograph on social media that includes herself on digital camera with Hassouna, who was smiling. “My final picture of her is a smile. I cling to it right this moment,” Farsi wrote alongside the image.
Talking to CNN Friday, Farsi stated Hassouna was “a really vibrant and photo voltaic individual, had a tremendous smile and was an optimistic individual by nature.” The movie director stated she had labored with Hassouna for greater than a 12 months on the documentary and that they obtained to know one another very properly.
Farsi stated the final time she contacted Hassouna was in the future earlier than her demise to offer her “the completely happy information” concerning the documentary. “We each mentioned her touring to France in Might to current the documentary in Cannes with me, since she is the primary protagonist,” Farsi stated.
“I believed it was a mistake once I heard about her demise,” Farsi added. “I hope this documentary will make clear her life in Gaza and function a tribute to her reminiscence.”
In line with the PJPC, the variety of journalists who’ve died within the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, has risen to 212, an unprecedented toll based on quite a few journalist teams. The group referred to as on the worldwide group to open an instantaneous investigation into the incident and maintain these accountable to account.
Hassouna’s neighbor, Um Aed Ajur, described Hassouna as happy with the work she was doing. She questioned the strike on her home, saying she and her household “haven’t any connection” to any group. “We now have been neighbors for 35 years and have by no means heard that they’re related to any (group),” she added.
Hassouna’s last put up on her Fb web page was a sequence of photographs of Gaza fishermen by the ocean final Saturday, lower than every week earlier than she was killed. She posted the images with a brief poem.
“From right here you get to know town. You enter it, however you don’t go away, since you gained’t go away, and you may’t,” she wrote.
CNN’s Lauren Izso contributed reporting
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