Palestinian Filmmaker Fatema Hassouna Killed in Israeli Airstrike Ahead of Cannes Debut
Fatema Hassouna, star of a Cannes-selected documentary, was killed along with nine family members in Gaza amid continued Israeli strikes targeting civilians.
Watan-Palestinian photojournalist Fatema Hassouna was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip.
Fatema was the main subject of a documentary film scheduled to premiere this year at the Cannes International Film Festival, as part of a parallel screening program.
According to medical sources in Gaza, Fatema and nine of her relatives were martyred when their home in northern Gaza was struck by an Israeli air raid in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Fatema Hassouna Killed in Israeli Strike Days Before Cannes Debut
When asked about the attack, the Israeli army claimed the target was a member of a local Hamas battalion, adding that it had taken “steps to avoid harming civilians” and used “precision weapons.” However, the army made no initial comment on the civilian deaths from the strike in Gaza City.
Fatema was the central figure in the upcoming documentary “Put Your Soul in Your Palm and Walk”, which was scheduled for screening in May under the Association of Independent Cinema’s program at Cannes.
Fatema’s death highlights the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza, which has been widely condemned for its disproportionate impact on civilians, including journalists, women, and children. Since the war began, Israeli airstrikes have targeted homes, hospitals, and even displacement camps, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The killing of Fatema is part of a broader pattern where journalists and artists are frequently caught in the bombardment, raising urgent concerns about freedom of the press, cultural erasure, and war crimes under international law.
