Palestinian “tent life" TikTok star Medo Halimy dies in Israeli air strike
Palestinian TikTok star killed in Israeli strike
A 19-year-old Palestinian Tiktok star, Medo Halimy was killed in an apparent Israeli strike in Gaza earlier this week. His friend and collaborator Talal Murad was injured in that attack. Talal joined LiveNOW from FOX's Josh Breslow to speak about his friend.
TikTok star Medo Halimy, a 19-year-old Palestinian known for documenting "tent life" at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Gaza, was killed this week in an Israeli air strike.
Halimy launched his own TikTok account after taking refuge with his parents, four brothers and sister in Muwasi, an area that Israel has designated a humanitarian safe zone amid its ongoing war against Hamas.
Halimy shared intimate details of his life in the dusty encampment, reaching viewers far and wide. His videos often went viral — some amassing more than 2 million views on TikTok.
FILE - Destroyed tents at the site of an Israeli strike at a camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. Palestinian TikTok star Medo Halimy was killed in a similar air strike in August. (Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bl
"If you wonder what living in a tent is actually like, come with me to show you how I spend my day," Halimy says in his first of many "tent life" diaries.
Tributes poured in from around the world, including from friends in Harker Heights, Texas, where he spent a year in 2021 as part of an exchange program sponsored by the State Department.
READ MORE: Israel rescues hostage after 325 days in Hamas captivity
"Medo was the life of the hangout ... humor and kindness and wit, all things that can never be forgotten," said Heba al-Saidi, alumni coordinator for the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study program. "He was bound for greatness, but he was taken too soon."
"He represented a message," Talal Murad, Halimy’s friend and collaborator, said on Friday, still recovering from shrapnel wounds he sustained in the same air strike. "He represented hope and strength."
The Israeli military said it was not aware of the strike that killed Halimy, according to The Associated Press.
Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and spawned a humanitarian disaster. It has also transformed legions of ordinary teenagers, who have nothing to do every day but survive, into war correspondents for the social media age.