By Humaira Ahad

Born and raised in Gaza, Walaa Jumaa al-Afranji was known for her cultural and artistic initiatives. She was famous across the coastal strip for her creative designs and paintings.

The 35-year-old loved Gaza and sought to revive its heritage by her engravings on stones. Her cultural resilience can also be seen in her paintings.

On December 25, Al-Afranji met the fate of hundreds of other Palestinian artists and writers. She was killed with her husband Ahmed Saeed Salama and her sister in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

As the world remained busy with Christmas festivities, the Zionist regime bombarded a residential building near the Ain Jalut Towers in Nuseirat, killing more than a dozen people.

Al-Afranji had been displaced to the refugee camp after the Israeli regime started its relentless bombardment on the territory last year in October. 

Before the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the Palestinian artist lived in the Gaza City.

“All I know is that since October 7 we have been running, displaced, running to look for medical treatment, to escape bombs, we are running even while we are sitting still,” Al-Afrangi said in a video that went viral on the social media after her killing.

The Palestinian woman loved to write. After the start of the all-out genocidal war, she used to narrate the everyday plight of Palestinians under the brutal Israeli occupation and apartheid.  

Al-Afrangi was known as a woman with varied talents. Apart from being an artist, she was also a fashion enthusiast. She ran her clothes company called “Fashion Room by Walaa.”

“As a woman, I didn’t stay still since completing my graduation. I was trying to create exceptional opportunities in a situation that was far from easy,” Al-Afrangi narrated her story in a video.

Al-Afrangi promoted the traditional handicrafts of her homeland, frequently sharing photos and videos wearing embroidered Palestinian outfits. She would also collaborate with local designers to popularize the outfits. 

In many of her social media posts, the young Palestinian woman could be seen sporting traditional Palestinian embroidery, known as tatreez. Through her social media account, she also showcased creative projects, merging traditional with the modern.

As a professional calligrapher and artisan, Al-Afrangi would create handcrafted gifts such as photo frames, key rings, and plant pots.

Before the war, the multi-talented woman worked at the famous “Surprise” gift shop in Gaza City’s bustling Rimal neighborhood. Rimal was once considered one of Gaza’s most prosperous areas. Presently the place is in ruins, destroyed by Israeli bombardment.

Amid the genocidal war on Gaza, Al-Afrangi used her social media account to document Israel’s destruction of the besieged strip. Her death was widely condemned in the literary circles of Palestine.

Noor Naim, an AI ethics researcher paid heartfelt tribute to the Palestinian artist on X.

“Walaa Al-Afarnaji was more than an artist she was a visionary. Even amidst the war, she launched initiatives and projects to uplift and support the youth. After 445 days of relentless struggle, Israel killed her today. Walaa deserved to live.”

Dr Mohammed Al Najjar, a Palestinian doctor working in Gaza, took to X to express his pain on Al-Faranji’s killing by the apartheid regime.

“Today, writer and photographer Walaa Al-Faranji, along with her husband, was killed in an airstrike. Walaa was never just a number, nor did she ever find solace in life. She captured the Gaza pain through her writing and photography, immortalizing the untold stories of suffering.”

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 45,436 Palestinians and wounded 108,038 since October 7, 2023. The apartheid regime has killed dozens of Palestinian writers, artists, journalists and academicians in the past 14 months.

Experts say the regime is deliberately “targeting academic, scientific, and intellectual figures in the Strip” as part of an ongoing project to exterminate the Palestinian people.