On April 24, Amna Homaid’s mangled physique lay within the rubble of a home in Shati camp, within the western a part of Gaza Metropolis, as rescuers tried to seek out survivors. An Israeli strike hit the constructing, killing her and her eldest son, Mahdi. Her brother and her 5 different youngsters had been injured however survived.
His demise added to the darkish statistic of greater than 140 journalists and medical staff killed in Gaza by Israel’s genocidal assault, in accordance with a depend maintained by the Gaza Media Workplace. This yr – like final – extra journalists have been murdered in Palestine than in some other nation.
Palestinian ladies journalists have at all times been on the forefront of Israel’s violent occupation and the wars it has waged in opposition to Palestinians. Their bravery and dedication have helped make clear the struggling and atrocities that the Palestinian individuals have endured and proceed to face.
However Amna was greater than a journalist; she was a poet and feminist activist. She was born in Gaza in 1990 to a household that had its roots within the Palestinian metropolis of Isdud, what Israelis now name Ashdod.
As is the case for most girls in Gaza, Amna’s journey was marked by resilience and an unwavering dedication to training. She earned a bachelor’s diploma from the Islamic College of Gaza in 2016 after which joined a grasp’s program at Al-Aqsa College. Each of her alma maters have been fully destroyed by Israeli bombing.
She labored for a number of native newspapers and radio stations, lending her voice to the marginalized, conducting investigations, and advocating for ladies’s rights and the Palestinian trigger.
He lived within the Yarmouk neighborhood, just a few kilometers from the Mediterranean coast of Gaza. Had she been born throughout the ocean, she might have loved an increasing profession and prominence, incomes many awards and worldwide recognition for her many items. As issues stand right now, her final reward has been her demise by the hands of the Israeli military.
Amna left behind a seven-month-old child, Duha, in addition to her sons Ali (10), Mohammed (9), Amir (5) and Ghana (4). Her husband, journalist and activist Saed Hassunah, has not been capable of find them.
They had been separated in December after Israeli troopers stormed an house constructing in Gaza Metropolis the place that they had taken refuge, kidnapped and tortured him, and compelled Amna and the kids to go away. After the Israeli military launched Saed, overwhelmed, bare and with out possessions, he headed south as he was unable to ascertain contact together with his household for days. Damage and deeply anxious about his spouse and kids, he suffered a nervous breakdown.
Earlier than this horrific expertise, the household had survived Israeli bombing raids concentrating on locations the place that they had twice sought refuge. The second time Amna and Duha had been injured.
“I am unable to cease occupied with them after Amna’s homicide,” Saed informed me. “I am unable to go north they usually cannot come south. We’re separated. I could not even attend Amna’s funeral or say goodbye to her. and I am unable to sleep occupied with them.”
Amna’s household is emblematic amongst all these in Gaza combating in opposition to the atrocities going down there. The phrases of the United Nations particular rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, ring with grim fact: “The colossal quantity of proof about worldwide crimes dedicated by Israel in Gaza within the final six months might maintain the Worldwide Felony Court docket. for the following 5 a long time.”
The horror of Amna’s demise is ceaselessly captured in a report broadcast by Al Jazeera in Arabic. When correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul arrives on the scene of the assault, considered one of Amna’s sons, Mohammed, runs in direction of him. With tears streaming down his face and his voice trembling, the boy shouts: “Uncle Ismail!” “Sure, what occurred pricey?” the journalist asks.
The boy opens his coronary heart: “My mom and my brother are trapped underneath the rubble, and my different brothers and my uncle are injured. I got here out okay,” he says, crying and never realizing that he has small items of shrapnel in his physique.
The journalist asks him what occurred. Mohammed struggles to talk. Respiratory closely and sobbing, he says a rocket fell whereas the household was sitting collectively. As tears overwhelm him, a relative rushes to hug him, providing what little consolation may be discovered amid the unfolding genocide.
Muhammad’s phrases are a specter in my thoughts, hundreds of miles away in Canada, and unable to do something in opposition to the savage Leviathan unleashed on Gaza. I hope that sooner or later these phrases will resonate within the corridors of worldwide justice.
Earlier than she was taken away from us, Amna confronted a smear marketing campaign. Israel’s Channel 14 broadcast {a photograph} of her and acknowledged that she was a part of the Palestinian armed resistance and that her presence at al-Shifa hospital confirmed that Hamas was “hiding within the hospital.”
As a substitute of exhibiting solidarity with a fellow journalist underneath hearth, the Israeli media selected to incite in opposition to her. In reality, Amna was in al-Shifa, however she left the hospital simply earlier than the siege started to keep away from demise within the bloodbath of at the very least 400 individuals in March. This resolution to go away her extended her life by just a few weeks.
Her husband believes she was focused for her reporting on the Israeli genocide.
A number of weeks earlier than her homicide, Amna wrote a shifting reflection on her Fb web page:
“My decisions have at all times been a mix of bitter and stunning experiences. Though the instances are fraught with difficulties and future hangs within the steadiness, I’ve by no means been one to waver, bend, retreat or falter. “Nothing will deter me from defending the sanctity of the sacraments and from carrying and speaking the message that I deeply understood at an early age.”
Amna’s homicide on April 24 is a loss for her household, her pals, the Palestinian individuals and anybody dedicated to constructing a greater world. Her phrases of hope and dedication are an unimaginable testomony to the ability of the human spirit to outlive by means of the unimaginable. I hope they encourage future generations to behave as bravely as she did.
Relaxation in energy, Amna!
The views expressed on this article are these of the creator and don’t essentially mirror the editorial place of Al Jazeera.