Israel Is Killing Love Stories in Gaza: These Are Some of Them

Israel Is Killing Love Stories in Gaza: These Are Some of Them

Features October 6, 2025
Israel Is Killing Love Stories in Gaza: These Are Some of Them
In Gaza, love stories are ending not with heartbreak, but with Israeli airstrikes. Couples who once dreamed of weddings, children, and growing old together are now among the names on death lists. They held hands through war, whispered promises beneath drones, and tried to build lives in a place where bombs fall more often than rain. In Gaza, there are partners whose futures were stolen by Israel’s genocide. Israel didn’t just take lives. It ended love. Here are three of these stories: Hala and Mohammad Palestinian journalist Mohammad Salama was killed in August 2025 in a live-broadcasted Israeli attack on a hospital in southern Gaza along with five of his colleagues. Slama was planning a wedding with fellow Palestinian journalist, Hala Asfour, hoping to celebrate their nuptials after a ceasefire. Salama married Asfour, last year, amid the ongoing genocidal war. Announcing his marriage, Salam wrote: “November 11, 2024, marks not only the day I was born — but this year, it also marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life. On this special day, I am honored to announce my marriage to the one who embodies dignity, wisdom, and a beautiful soul, Hala. Amidst the hardships and uncertainties brought upon us by this war, we found in each other a sense of peace and security. Though surrounded by fear, we walked together through difficult paths, overcoming every obstacle hand in hand, until we arrived at the moment that binds us forever: marriage. May Allah bless this union, make it a source of goodness and benefit, and grant that it brings light to our faith and our homelands.”
Mohammed once said to Hala: “As long as we are together, death cannot defeat us.” But Israel’s targeted strikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis took them both by surprise. Mohammed was killed, while Hala survived, left to carry a grief far heavier than she could ever have imagined. Now, Hala has lost not only a colleague, but also her beloved, her partner in life, in love, and in every struggle they faced together amid the Israeli genocide. She once watched him run fearlessly through the rubble, camera in hand, never imagining that one day, that same rubble would bear witness to his assassination.
Following his killing, Hala wrote, “I say goodbye to my fiancé and husband, martyred just days before our wedding. We dreamed of life together, but the occupation kills even love in Gaza. War stole our happiness, but never our love or resilience.” Nahrawan and Yahia Palestinian journalist Yahia Barzaq was killed in an Israeli strike that targeted Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza after he was forced to flee his home in Gaza City to the south under Israeli bombardment and threats. Before the two-years-long Israeli genocide in Gaza, Barzaq’s instagram page was adorned with carefully constructed and highly styled photographs of beautiful newborn babies. He owned a private studio for newborn photography in Gaza City. His wife, Nahrawan, was seen embracing his lifeless body on the hospital floor, unable to let go and clearly in shock after he was killed. According to several posts shared by their friends, Yahia and Nahrawan’s love story began with a camera in a small studio they opened together. They dreamed of a future filled with joy, capturing children’s photos and creating life from their innocence. They fled from the north to the south, escaping death, yet they never lost hope. “He was my whole world. He left, and with him went everything,” Nahrawan said. Liyal and Basel “I embraced her body.. this was the last moment between me and her.. I will never see her again,” said Basel after his wife, Liyal, was killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza. “Liyal was my heart, my pulse. She was my eye through which I saw at home.” “He told me: “Your wife has died.” I said: “Move, maybe we can still catch her. Maybe something can be done, let’s go to the hospital.” He continued, “There will be no one as tender to my children as she.”

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