Overview

• Yaqeen Hammad, an 11-year-old volunteer with the Ouena Collective, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah on May 23.
• She became known for sharing practical survival tips on social media and distributing food amid Gaza’s resource shortages.
• Her death occurred during a larger wave of bombings that claimed multiple civilian lives, including nine of a pediatrician’s ten children.
• News of her killing triggered widespread social media condemnation and renewed scrutiny of the risks facing Gaza’s noncombatants.
• More than 600,000 Gazans have been displaced since mid-March and over 54,000 Palestinians killed since October 2023, straining humanitarian resources after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s director resigned over neutrality concerns.