The star of TikTok to Gazathe nineteen year old Mohammed “Medo” Halimyfamous for his videos of displaced people living in tents, was killed in the explosion of a vehicle, perhaps hit by Israeli jets, near the internet point where he met his collaborators in Khan Younis.
As he often did in his films documenting the absurdities of everyday life in Striplast Monday Halimy He went to the local internet cafe, a tent with wi-fi where displaced Palestinians can connect to the outside world, to meet his friend and collaborator Talal Murad. They took a selfie that Halimy captioned “finally reunited” and started working. Suddenly, a flash of light came, he said Murad18 years old, an explosion of white heat and sprayed earth. Murad he felt pain in his neck. Halimy was bleeding from the head. A car on the coastal road in front of them was engulfed in flames, probably from an Israeli air strike. It took 10 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Hours later doctors said I’m middle dead, while the Israeli army said it was unaware of the attack in which the boy died.
“It represented a message,” he said. Muradstill recovering from shrapnel wounds and shocked by the death of his friend, “represented hope and strength.” The tributes for the young TikToker – who had an audience of over 250,000 people on social media who had started following him since he began posting videos recounting his life as a displaced person in Rapha And Khan Younis – they came from friends from far away places like Harker Heightsin Texaswhere he spent a year in 2021 as part of an initiative of the US Department of State which sends students from around the world to American high schools.
“Medo was the life and soul of the gathering… humor, kindness and wit, all things you can never forget,” he said. Heba al-Saidicoordinator of the alumni of the program Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study sponsored by the government of the United States and friend of Halimy. “He was destined for greatness, but was taken away too soon.”