UGCA blogger who attracted a large following on Instagram and TikTok by documenting daily life in Gaza has been killed in an airstrike.
Mohammad ‘Medo’ Halimy, 20, was hit by shrapnel from a nearby explosion caused by an Israeli missile in Khan Younis on Monday, according to two youth organisations he had previously worked with.
Tamer Community Education Institute told the BBC that Halimy was in an area near the beach where displaced people were taking shelter when he was fatally shot.
The IDF told the BBC it could not confirm the air strike on Khan Younis on Monday, but said it continued to “counter threats while working to minimise civilian casualties” in Gaza.
Halimy has built up a following on social media after his family was forced to flee their home when Israel began its military campaign in Gaza following the October 7 attack.
More than 250,000 people followed him on Instagram and TikTok after he began posting videos detailing his life as one of the displaced Gazans in Rafah and Khan Younis.
Halimy’s videos range from simple recipes he creates with limited supplies and equipment, to tutorials on how he creates his content. In an interview last year, he said each clip he posts on social media costs him about $3 — a large sum in Gaza.
He posted his last video on Monday, hours before he was killed, in which he showed the tent where he lived and detailed what he had been doing that day.
Both Palestinian organisations that confirmed his death to the BBC said the deadly attack took place in a nearby street and that Halimy was injured by flying debris. He died the following day.
Spark, a Gaza-based charity that Halimy worked for in the summer of 2023, confirmed his death to the BBC and praised his “ability to bring beauty and splendor to any place” in an online post.
“Muhammad, your good spirit will remain with us forever, and we believe you deserve a better world,” the article added.
“May God have mercy on you, my dear brother,” Rahaf’s sister wrote in an Instagram post announcing his death. “May God accept you as a martyr.”
United States Environmental Protection AgencyEarlier this year, Halimy told NBC News He hopes his content will help “show the world what our lives are really like.”
“I want to prove that we Palestinians are resilient,” he told the US television station.
“We will survive and live no matter what, under any circumstances. We cannot be defeated. We are a very strong people, and we will live no matter what.”
Israel launched a military operation in Gaza in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 by Hamas, which left some 1,200 people dead and 251 hostages taken.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 40,530 people have been killed since then, including civilians and militants. The UN human rights office said most of those killed were women and children.
US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are trying to broker a ceasefire deal under which Hamas would release 104 hostages still being held, including 34 believed to be dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Indirect talks have continued in Cairo in recent days, but so far there has been no sign of a breakthrough on key sticking points, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand that Israel maintain troops along Gaza’s border with Egypt, which Hamas and Egypt have rejected.
