GAZA — Palestinian journalist Islam Miqdad, just 29 years old, has been killed today in an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. Her little son Adam was killed with her. The two were buried beneath the rubble of their home and tent—both destroyed in yet another attack that has become tragically routine.
Islam died with a heart full of longing. She had spent nearly two years waiting to reunite with her daughter Zina, who has been receiving treatment in Tunisia after suffering a life-threatening head injury in an earlier Israeli bombing. Islam never got the chance to hold her again.
Her final Instagram post is now being shared widely across social media. In it, she wrote:
“My name is Islam. I’m 29 years old. That’s me in the profile picture. What I fear most is to be mentioned as just another number in a list of victims. I’m not just a girl. I’m not just a number. It took me 29 years to become who I am— I have a home, children, a family, friends, memories, and a heart full of pain.”
Islam’s mother spoke through tears in a video shared online.
“She dreamed for nearly two years of going to see her daughter. Just two days ago, she visited a doctor, trying to arrange a referral so she could travel and hold her little girl again.”
Islam was displaced more than once during the genocide. She endured hunger, thirst, illness, and fear. She carried her surviving daughter, Sarah—who was also injured in the same attack that wounded Zeina—through bombed-out streets, searching for safety.
She had dreams. She wanted to become a well-known journalist. She wanted to raise her children in peace. But Israeli missiles shattered those dreams. Islam and Adam are gone. Zeina and her father remain outside Gaza, unaware perhaps that their family has been torn apart once again.
Islam is not the first journalist to be killed in Gaza. At least 221 journalists have been killed since Israel’s genocide began on October 7, 2023. Targeting journalists has become a deliberate effort to silence the truth and erase the voices of those documenting this genocide.
But Islam’s words live on. Her pain, her courage, and her love for her children now echo through the stories being told in her name. She was not just a number—she was a mother, a storyteller, and a voice that refused to be silenced in the face of an unjust world.
C. QNN
