A young Gazan influencer has been killed as Israel’s military offensive in the territory continued to intensify.
Eleven-year-old Yaqeen Hammad reached tens of thousands with her social media videos, which focused on supporting the Gazan community by helping to distribute clothing and toys to orphans.
She worked closely with the Ouena Collective, a Gaza-based non-profit providing aid and supporting projects in the Strip, alongside her older brother and humanitarian worker Mohamed Hammad, the Palestine Chronicle reports.
The Chronicle said she was Gaza’s youngest social media activist, posting videos about the work with her brother and Ouena building a kitchen to feed Palestinians during the month of Ramadan, as well as videos laughing and playing with other children.
“Is there anything more beautiful than the smile of children Gaza?” she wrote in the caption to a video just one week ago showing children enjoying games and dancing.
She also posted videos about daily life, showing her followers how she cooks when there is little fuel to be had.
Yaqeen was killed when Israel shelled al-Baraka in Deir el-Balah, northern Gaza, on Friday night, Al Jazeera reports.
Tributes flowed on her social media following news of her death.
“Her body may be gone, but her impact remains a beacon of humanity,” Gazan photojournalist Mahmoud Bassam wrote.
Dozens of Palestinians including women and children have been killed in Israeli bombardments since Friday, as Israel’s renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip continues despite international condemnation.
The UN’s International Organisation for Migration said the renewed offensive had forcibly displaced nearly 180,000 people between May 15-25.
A new aid system in Gaza opened its first distribution hubs Monday, according to a U.S.-backed group that said it began delivering food to Palestinians who face growing hunger after Israel’s nearly three-month blockade to pressure Hamas.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is taking over the handling of aid despite objections from United Nations. The desperately needed supplies started flowing on a day that saw Israeli strikes kill at least 52 people in Gaza.
The group said truckloads of food – it did not say how many – had been delivered to its hubs, and distribution to Palestinians had begun. It was not clear where the hubs were located or how those receiving supplies were chosen.
Under pressure from allies, Israel began allowing a trickle of humanitarian aid into Gaza last week after blocking all food, medicine, fuel or other goods from entering since early March. Aid groups have warned of famine and say the aid that has come in is nowhere near enough to meet mounting needs.
Hamas warned Palestinians on Monday not to cooperate with the new aid system, saying it is part of Israel’s plans to transfer much of Gaza’s population to other countries.
Israel says it plans to facilitate what it describes as the voluntary migration of much of Gaza’s population of 2 million, a plan rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community.
Israel’s military campaign has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and internally displaced some 90 per cent of its population. Many have fled multiple times.
With additional reporting from AP, Reuters
