Prominent digital illustrator Mahasen Al-Khatib was among dozens of Palestinians reportedly killed on Friday, October 18, during a barrage of Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. According to the Indian news outlet Ummid, she was killed alongside her remaining family members. The Iranian state-owned news network PressTV indicates that her body is being held indefinitely at the Kamal Adwan Hospital as it is currently too dangerous to claim her remains for burial. She was 32 years old.
Prior to the Israeli military response to Hamas’s October 7 attack last year, Al-Khatib worked as a freelance digital illustrator, storyboard artist, and character designer for domestic and international clients, according to a GoFundMe campaign she organized in an attempt to evacuate from Gaza in June. She amassed a large following on social media by posting her digital illustrations as Instagram Reels and TikToks immortalizing moments of both strife and optimism in Gaza throughout the Israeli military’s bombardment.
Per the GoFundMe page, Al-Khatib became the main provider for her family after her father died. Adding that they were forced to relocate multiple times, she wrote that the family home suffered damages from airstrikes and her art supplies and tablet were stolen. “In this tough situation, I am a digital artist finding solace and resilience through my art … pixels and colors,” she said.
In January, she made a Facebook post anticipating her death, including a photo of herself that she asked to be used in her memory. On the anniversary of October 7, Al-Khatib wrote that she and her family were staying in Jabalia, stating that “because after we lived through displacement many times, we know there is no escape.”
“Wherever you are, death will catch up with you,” she concluded.
Only hours before she was killed, Al-Khatib posted her final illustration honoring Shaban al-Dalou, a 19-year-old Palestinian student who burned to death while still connected to an intravenous saline drip after an Israeli airstrike targeted a tent complex at the Al-Aqsa Hospital compound in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza last week. “Tell me what your (sic) feeling when you see anybody burning ….” she captioned her illustration.
Al-Khatib’s death was met with devastation and outrage as thousands of social media users continue to leave messages of mourning across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. In an Instagram post yesterday, the account Drawings from Gaza shared a tribute to the artist, who was featured on the page in March.
“She was a very talented artist from Gaza who captured the essence of art as resistance in her work,” the caption read. “Please honor her by sharing her work and let her legacy live on.”