Yaqeen Hammad, an 11-year-old girl who became Gaza’s youngest influencer and a beloved figure of hope, was killed on Friday night when Israeli airstrikes targeted her family’s home in Al-Baraka, Deir al-Balah. Her torn body was recovered from the rubble, ending a life that had, against all odds, become a symbol of resilience for Palestinians living under siege.
Yaqeen’s death has sent shockwaves across the world, with activists, journalists, and thousands of followers mourning the loss of a child who used social media not for vanity but for survival. Amid air raids and starvation, Yaqeen turned her platform into a sanctuary of joy and practical advice. Her videos taught others how to cook without gas and how to find light in the darkness.
“I try to bring a bit of joy to the other children so that they can forget the war,” she wrote in one of her posts.
Her final posts were full of life: dancing, handing out ice cream, gifting new clothes to orphans, and smiling in the face of relentless violence. On May 15, she wrote to her 103,000 Instagram followers, “Despite the war and the genocide, we came today to make the children happy.” Underneath a video of laughing children, she asked, “Is there anything more beautiful than the smile of Gaza children?”
Gaza’s 11-year-old girl’s smile is now a memory
Yaqeen was killed during the same wave of airstrikes that reportedly took the lives of 52 people on Monday, including 31 sheltering in a school, and nine children of a single paediatrician. According to Gaza’s health ministry, nearly 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began in 2023, 16,503 of them children. Recent figures show the scale of this devastation: 916 infants under one, 4,365 children aged 1–5, 6,101 aged 6–12, and 5,124 teenagers between 13 and 17 have died.
Yaqeen’s work extended far beyond her Instagram feed. Alongside her older brother, Mohamed, a humanitarian worker, she delivered food, toys, and clothing to displaced families through the Ouena collective, a Gaza-based non-profit. Together, they brought cheer to shelters and camps across the territory.
“She had an entrepreneurial spirit and was always the first to do good,” said Hani Abu Rizq, a journalist and colleague at Ouena. “She loved helping others and bringing joy to children in displacement camps. She had a special touch, spreading hope and optimism among people despite the difficult circumstances.”
Even at her young age, Yaqeen carried the heart of a leader and the fire of a humanitarian. In one video, she demonstrated how to cook on makeshift wood stoves: “Did they cut off the gas? We made gas,” she wrote. “Gaza: No to the impossible.”
Her death has left her community in mourning and the world reeling. Mahmoud Bassam, a Gaza photojournalist, said, “Her body may be gone, but her impact remains a beacon of humanity.”
“She was a child who carried in her heart a love for doing good,” added Mohamad al-Kadri, a volunteer with Muslim Doctors for Humanity. “She dedicated her young energy to planting hope in the hearts of those around her.”
The Israeli military has not commented on Yaqeen’s death but has intensified its air campaign in recent days. As international condemnation builds, Yaqeen’s story has become a haunting example of the war’s toll on Gaza’s children and a reminder of their dignity and defiance.
“Yaqeen was martyred,” Palestinian photojournalist Amr Tabash wrote, “yet certainty remains in our hearts that the children of Gaza are the heartbeat of humanity and a reflection of global silence.”
