‘Let me show you what a day of my tent life looks like,’ this is how 19-year-old Mohammad ‘Medo’ Halimy would start his vlogs.
His last video, which has been watched by almost 700,000 people on TikTok, saw the Palestinian content creator detail the reality of life under bombardment in the Gaza Strip.
It was a few hours later that he suffered devastating wounds in an Israeli airstrike on the besieged piece of land.
Friends of Medo – how he was known on social media – report that he succumbed to his injuries and died on Tuesday.
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Tributes have been paid to the teenager and to his ‘legacy’, both by people who knew him and who followed his TikTok and Instagram, where he documented the unimaginable realities of living under siege in Gaza.
‘He was always trying to bring Gaza’s voice to the world through his Instagram account,’ Dr Nour Naim, founder and director of AI Minds, wrote.
She said Medo was part of the Voices from Palestine team and volunteered with the Tamer Institute to promote reading.
‘His friends remember him as a book lover and a kind soul,’ she added.
In the UK, writer Owen Jones was among those who paid tribute to Medo, writing: ‘Israel just killed this 19-year-old Palestinian man. He was full of joy, humanity and love for life despite the hellish circumstances forced on him. Do not forget Medo Halimy.’
One of his followers, Talal Mtabbal, said: ‘Israel killed Medo Halimy in his tent with an air strike.
‘The young man who showed us what life in a tent refugee camp was like. Planted a garden around his tent. Loved swimming and drinking coffee with his friends.’
Medo, who is originally from Gaza City, began creating regular ‘day in the tent life’ vlogs in May, capturing what it is like being a displaced Palestinian in Gaza.
For months, he and his family dodged Israel’s bombs, fleeing from one area to another.
He began posting as a means of combating depression, but as his following grew, the creator launched a GoFundMe to help his parents, sister and four brothers out of Gaza.
Medo wrote in the fundraiser: ‘I am 19 years old. I live in Gaza City where I also grew up and spent my whole life.
‘I lived a year of my life in Texas, where I lived with amazing American host families, and went to a great American high school as a senior (Harker Heights High School) which was the best academic experience of my life.
ð¨Breaking: Israel killed âMedoâ Mohammed Saeed Al-Halimi (20) ,He was not just a numberâ¼ï¸
— Nour Naim| ÙÙÙر (@NourNaim88) August 27, 2024
He was part of the Voices from Palestine team and volunteered with Tamer Institute to promote reading. His friends remember him as a book lover and a kind soul.#GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/rOu0dh7Euo
‘I was planning on going back to the USA for college and I wanted to major in psychology and then after that continue my studies and become a psychiatrist to help as many people as I can.
‘Today I am writing this while in a tent, in Rafah, right next to the Egyptian border trying to raise money to help me and my family evacuate and leave the Gaza Strip, have a life, and continue on with my dreams and my family’s dreams.’
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