Palestinian Digital Artist among dead in Jabalia, her last artwork is ...
Mahasen Khatib died with her entire family in indiscriminate Israeli military bombing on the Jabalia Camp, northern Gaza on 18 October, 2024.
[Image posted on X by @MahasenAlkhatib]
Mahasen al Khatib, a Palestinian Digital Artist, is among the 33 Palestinians killed in Israeli bombing of refugee camp, shelter homes and hospitals in Jabalia in northern Gaza in the last three days.
Mahasen Khatib died with her entire family in indiscriminate Israeli military bombing on the Jabalia Camp, northern Gaza on 18 October, 2024.
“Mahassen Khattib, my fellow artist from Northern Gaza was Martyred today”, Sara, a fellow Digital Artist, who identifies herself as Avo wrote on social media platform X.
Mahasen always tried to stay cheery and alive. But her death was always to be expected as she was killed by an Israeli missile that pulverized her home.
Hours before her death, Mahassen posted her last artwork "We are burning" in the memory of 19-year-old Shabaan Al-Dalu and other Palestinians, who were burnt alive by Israeli occupation forces.
Dozens of Palestinians were burnt alive after Israeli Occupation Forces bombed a tented camp in the grounds of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Sunday October 14, 2024. Shabaan al-Dalu was one of them.
ليالي صعبة… pic.twitter.com/QHXFlzrjWh
— mahasen (@MahasenAlkhatib) October 16, 2024
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees described Israeli bombing of the tented camp and the agency's school sheltering the displaced Palestinians in the intervening night of Oct 13 and 14 as “another night of horror”.
Mohammed Tahir, a UK doctor on his third medical mission to Gaza, said he was in the operation theatre when the Israelis bombed the tented camp.
"We were inundated. We had women, men and children as young as one year of age dying in front of our eyes”, he said.
Mahasen, who met Shabaan in the heavens four days later, tried to awaken the conscience of the world captioning her last digital portrait drawn in in the latter’s memory:
“Tell me what you’re feeling when you see anybody burning….”
Artist and painter Mahasen Al Khatib’s life was cut too short by a merciless, blinded Israeli war on defenceless civilians while world leaders look on with hands tied behind their backs.
Mahasen's Chicken Video Clip
Today she stands as the owner of the “famous chicken” video clip in which she documented the happiness of her brother when they managed to get a chicken after months of eating leaves on a starvation diet.
She watches her brother playing with the dead naked, meat, laughs and asks: “How are we going to cook it…?”
“Magloba…[Arabic dish with rice and vegetables,” comes the reply.
“How about roasting yet,” she interjects.
“Yes, that would be great too.”
Oh, I know, how about boiling it,” she wonders as if this is a great festive occasion.
“Yes, that too would be nice,” with the eyes of her little brother lighting up.
‘Or, what about cutting it, or even stuffing it?”
صاحبة مقطع الدجاجة الشهير.. الفنانة التشكيلية محاسن الخطيب ترتقي شهيدة في قصف للاحتلال على مخيم جباليا بعدما رفضت النزوح والتهجير لنحو عام كامل من الحرب.. إليك قصتها pic.twitter.com/ZFVuMYHfO0
— أنا العربي - Ana Alaraby (@AnaAlarabytv) October 19, 2024
Mahassen, also the founder of Rawasi Palestine Foundation for Culture, Art and Media, uploaded the video clip on August 09, 2024. Little did she know would be at the end of an Israeli two months later.
Mahsen drew with her pencils the heinous conditions of the people of Gaza that have been unrelenting in an Israeli genocide of death and destruction.
The young woman always tried to stay cheery and alive.
“I am Mahasen from Gaza and I am trying to stay alive”, she wrote in one of her social media posts.
Also Watch: Irish artists paint martyred Palestinian academic’s 'If I must die' at Falls Road
In her death, Palestine and Gaza lost a creative personality. She sought to communicate the merciless, ungodly heartache of the people whose lives have long been turned upside down. She wanted to send a message to the world in a clever way about the tragedies of Gazans through her artistic works.
Mahasen left us with a creative, national heritage that sought to fight ethnic cleansing and presented us with immense digital works that expressed our wounds, devastation and hopes for an end to the massacres and killing.
The artist was firm against people leaving their homes. She and her family stood against displacement and fought it tirelessly through her works that depicted the harsh realities in a caricaturist, funny manner which she published on her social media accounts.
“God sends us a chicken after long months…thanks be to God, she says….It was a chicken for eight people and I ate a part of it,” she emphasized.
[With inputs from Dr Marwan Asmar’ article titled “‘I am Mahasen from Gaza and I am trying to stay alive’. Dr Marwan Asmar is based in Amman and is the editor of www.crossfirearabia.com]
Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
Post Comments