Fatima Hassouna | |
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فاطمة حسّونة | |
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| Born | 1999 (1999) Gaza City, Gaza Strip |
| Died | 16 April 2025(2025-04-16) (aged 25–26) Al-Touffah, Gaza City, Gaza Strip |
| Cause of death | Israeli airstrike |
| Other names | Fatma Hassona |
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| Years active | 2023–2025 |
| Known for | |
Fatima Hassouna (/həˈsuːnə/hə-SOO-nə;Arabic:فاطمة حسّونة; 1999 – 16 April 2025), sometimes spelledFatma Hassona, was a Palestinianphotojournalist whose work documented civilian life during theGaza war. She gained international recognition for her visceral documentation of war impacts and became the subject of the documentary filmPut Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, selected for theACID film programme shown in parallel with the2025 Cannes Film Festival. She was killed alongside ten family members in anIsraeli airstrike on theirGaza City home on 16 April 2025.[1]
Hassouna was born in Gaza City in 1999[2] and graduated with a multimedia degree from theUniversity College of Applied Sciences inGaza. She began documenting life in Gaza after theOctober 7 attacks.[3]
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;[3] destruction of infrastructure from airstrikes; civilian casualties and funeral rituals; and moments of resilience, including children playing in ruins.[4] On 15 April 2025, she posted her finalInstagram story showing a Gaza sunset with the caption: "It's the first sunset in a long time".[3]Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk (2025), directed bySepideh Farsi, 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.[5] 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".[6]
Hassouna and ten relatives including her pregnant sister were killed when an Israeli missile struck their family home in Gaza City'sAl-Touffah neighborhood on 16 April 2025.[7][8] The attack occurred one day after her documentary's selection for Cannes was announced.[8] She had previously written on social media "If I die, I want a loud death".[7] Hassouna was one ofat least 175 journalists killed in Gaza, Lebanon and Israel by April 2025 according to press freedom groups.[4]
An investigation by UK research groupForensic Architecture 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.[9] TheIsrael Defense Forces stated they targeted "aHamas member involved in attacks against Israeli soldiers", claiming use of precision weapons.[3] Sepideh Farsi rejected this justification, stating: "I know the whole family. It's nonsense".[10]
In April 2025, a few days after Fatima Hassouna was killed, literary magazineArabLit publishedBatool Abu Akleen's translation of Fatima Hassouna's collection of poemsA Resonant Death.[11]
25-year-old Hassouna was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit her home in northern Gaza. Ten members of her family, including her pregnant sister, were also killed
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