On April 24, Amna Hamid’s torn body was lying under the rubble of a house in the Beach camp, in the western part of Gaza City, while rescuers were trying to find survivors, as an Israeli attack had hit the building, killing her and her eldest son. Mahdi, her brother and five other children were also injured but survived.
Her death added to the grim statistic of more than 140 journalists and medical workers killed in Gaza; Because of Israel’s genocidal onslaught, according to statistics kept by the Gaza Information Office. This year – like last year – more journalists were killed in Palestine than in any other country.
Palestinian female journalists have always been at the forefront of opposition to the violent Israeli occupation and at the forefront of standing up to the occupier in the wars he is waging against the Palestinians. Their courage and dedication have helped shed light on the suffering and atrocities that the Palestinian people have experienced and continue to face.
But Amna was more than just a journalist; She was a poet and feminist activist. I was born in Gaza in 1990 to a family whose roots go back to the Palestinian city of Ashdod – or what the Israelis now call Ashdod.
As is the case for most women in Gaza, Amna’s journey has been marked by determination and an unwavering commitment to education. She obtained a bachelor’s degree from the Islamic University of Gaza in 2016, then enrolled in the master’s program at Al-Aqsa University. Its two universities were completely destroyed by Israeli bombing.
She worked for several local newspapers and radio stations, where she gave her voice to marginalized people, conducted research, and advocated for women’s rights and the Palestinian cause.
Amna lived in the Yarmouk neighborhood, only a few kilometers from the coast of Gaza on the Mediterranean Sea. If she had been born on the other side of the sea, she might have enjoyed fame and a wide career, and would have won many international awards and recognition for her many talents. As is the case today, her final reward was death at the hands of the Israeli army.
Amna left behind a seven-month-old daughter, Duha, in addition to children: Ali (10 years old), Mohammed (9 years old), Amir (5 years old), and Ghana (4 years old). Her husband – journalist and activist Saeed Hassouna – was unable to reach them.
He separated from them in December 2023 after Israeli soldiers raided a residential building in Gaza City, where they had taken refuge, kidnapped him, tortured him, and forced Amna and the children to leave. After the Israeli army released Saeed – after he was beaten and stripped of his clothes and no longer had any possessions – he headed south; Because he was unable to contact his family for several days. Because he was suffering from wounds and deeply worried about his wife and children, he suffered a nervous breakdown.
Before this terrible ordeal, the family survived the Israeli bombing that targeted the places where they sought refuge twice, and the second time, Amna and Dhahi were injured.
“I can’t stop thinking about them after Amna was killed,” Saeed told me. “I can’t go to the north and they can’t come to the south. We are separated. I couldn’t even attend Amna’s funeral or say my last goodbyes. I can’t sleep thinking about them.”
Indeed, Amna’s family is a symbol of all Gazans who continue to grapple with the atrocities unfolding there.
There is no doubt that the words of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, ring with a grim reality when she says: “The vast amount of evidence relating to the international crimes committed by Israel in Gaza over the past six months could keep the International Criminal Court busy for decades.” “The next five.”
Amna’s horrific death was forever immortalized in a report broadcast by Tel Aviv Tribune. While reporter Ismail Al-Ghoul arrived at the site of the bombing, Muhammad, one of Amna’s sons, ran towards him. With tears streaming down his face and his voice trembling, he called the child: “Uncle Ismail!” “Yes, what happened dear?” the reporter asks.
The boy screams from his heart: “My mother and my brother are trapped under the rubble, and my brothers and my uncle are also injured.” And the child was saying this, crying without realizing that he had small fragments in his body: “I got out okay.”
The reporter asks him what happened, and Muhammad finds it difficult to speak. He said, breathing hard and crying, that a missile fell while the family was sitting together. As he is overcome with tears, a relative rushes to embrace him, offering what little comfort he can in the midst of this unfolding genocide.
Muhammad’s words are a ghost in my mind, as I am thousands of kilometers away in Canada, unable to do anything against the brutal tyrant unleashed in Gaza. I hope that one day these words will echo in the halls of international justice.
Before she was taken from us, Amna faced a smear campaign, as Israeli Channel 14 broadcast a picture of her and claimed that she was part of the armed Palestinian resistance, and that her presence in Al-Shifa Hospital proved that Hamas was “hiding in the hospital.”
Instead of showing solidarity with her fellow journalist who was shot, the Israeli media chose to incite against her.
It is true that Amna was already in Al-Shifa Hospital, but she left this hospital just before the siege began, so she escaped death in the massacre that killed at least 400 people in March. With this departure, she was able to prolong her life by a few weeks.
Her husband believes she was targeted because of her reporting on Israeli genocide. A few weeks before her murder, Amna wrote a poignant comment on her Facebook page:
“My choices have always been a mixture of bitter and astonishing experiences. Although the turns are fraught with difficulty and fate hangs in the balance, I have never been one to hesitate, hang my head, retreat or stutter and nothing will stop me from upholding the sanctity of secrets and carrying and communicating “The message that I deeply understood from my early childhood.”
There is no doubt that Amna’s killing on April 24 represents a loss to her family, friends, the Palestinian people, and anyone committed to building a better world. Her words of hope and dedication are an incredible testament to the strength of the human spirit to survive through grieving events, and I hope that those words will inspire future generations to act as courageously as Amna did.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.