Gaza writer Mohammad ‘Medo’ Halimy was killed in an alleged Israeli strike

A blogger who attracted followers on Instagram and TikTok for writing about daily life in Gaza has been killed in a strike.

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 organizations he previously worked with.

The Tamer Institute for Community Education told the BBC that Halimy was in an area near the beach where migrants are being sheltered when he was beaten.

The IDF told the BBC it could not confirm the strike in Khan Younis on Monday, but said it was continuing to “deal with threats while insisting on mitigating civilian casualties” in Gaza.

Halimy built an audience on social media after his family was forced to flee their home when Israel began its military operation in Gaza after the October 7 attack.

More than 250,000 people followed him on Instagram and TikTok after he started posting videos about his life as one of the Gazans who were expelled from Rafah and Khan Younis.

Halimy’s videos range from simple cooking recipes he created with limited supplies and electronics, to how-to videos of his content. In an interview last year, he said that every clip he posts on social media costs about $3 – a lot of money in Gaza.

He uploaded his last video on Monday, a few hours before he was killed, where he showed the tent he was living in and explained in detail what he had done that day.

Both Palestinian organizations that confirmed his death to the BBC said the fatal strike took place on a nearby road and that Halimy was injured by flying debris. He died the next day.

Spark, the Gaza-based charity Halimy worked with in the summer of 2023, confirmed his death to the BBC and praised his “ability to add beauty and glamor to any place” in an online post.

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

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

Earlier this year, Halimy he told NBC News he hoped his content would help “show the world what our life is really like”.

“I am showing that we, the Palestinian people, are strong,” he told an American broadcaster.

“We will survive and survive no matter what, in 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, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 captured.

More than 40,530 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the area, which does not distinguish between civilian and civilian deaths. The UN human rights office says most of those killed are women and children.

Mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar are trying to broker a ceasefire that would see Hamas release 104 hostages still in custody, including 34 presumed dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Informal talks have continued in Cairo in recent days, but so far there has been no sign of breakthrough on key sticking points. It includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request that Israel keep troops on the Gaza-Egypt border, which Hamas and Egypt rejected.