Gaza blogger Mohammad ‘Medo’ Halimy killed in alleged Israeli strike

Halimy built up a social media audience after his family were forced to flee their home when Israel began its military operation in Gaza in the wake of the 7 October attacks.

More than 250,000 people followed him on Instagram and TikTok after he began posting videos detailing his life as one of Gaza’s displaced citizens in Rafah and Khan Younis.

Halimy’s videos ranged from simple cooking recipes he had created with limited supplies and appliances, to walkthrough videos of how he made his content. In an interview last year, he said every clip he posted to social media cost him about $3 – a large sum in Gaza.

He posted his final video on Monday, hours before he was killed, in which he showed the tent he was living in and detailed what he had done that day.

Both Palestinian organisations which confirmed his death to the BBC said the fatal strike happened in a nearby street and Halimy was injured by flying debris. He died the following day.

Spark, a Gaza-based charity with which Halimy had worked in the summer of 2023, confirmed his death to the BBC and praised his “ability to add beauty and splendour to a place wherever it is” in a post online.

“Muhammad, your kind spirit will remain with us, and we believe you deserve a better world,” it added.

“May God have mercy on you, my beloved,” his sister Rahaf wrote in a post on Instagram announcing his death. “May God accept you as a martyr.”