On June 30, visual artist Amna Al-Salmi and photographer and filmmaker Ismail Abu Hatab were among approximately 30 people killed in an Israeli air strike on the busy seaside al-Baqa cafe. 

Al-Salmi, 36, and Abu Hatab, 32, both close friends, had been meeting colleagues and friends at the cafe during the time of the attack. A popular gathering spot for artists, journalists, young professionals, and foreigners, the family-run cafe was one of the sites targeted by Israeli forces on Monday. 

An established figure in Gaza’s art scene, Al-Salmi held a degree in fine arts photography from Gaza’s Al Aqsa University and worked across painting, mural, sculpture, and digital art. In addition to remaining artistically active throughout the war, she contributed efforts to the Tamer Institute for Community Education, a nonprofit educational organization focused on children and young adults, and Reviving Gaza, a mutual aid initiative addressing the immediate needs of the community.

In response to his elder sister’s death, Rafiq Al-Salmi, also an artist, told The Art Newspaper from Belgium: “I want the world to know that she loved everything beautiful—all of life—and that she wanted to live to create all that is beautiful. I want the world to know that my sister loved art and aspired to become a shining name in it.”

Abu Hatab, a graduate of Gaza’s University College of Applied Sciences, worked as a photojournalist throughout the war, despite being seriously wounded in a previous Israeli attack while filming a documentary about Palestinian strife. 

Working through a year of limited mobility and inadequate medical treatment, Abu Hatab most recently had works presented in “HOME | الب” at Haymarket House, Chicago and “Gaza: Against Erasure” (both 2025) at Pain Sugar Gallery, Riverside, California. His photographs were exhibited in the fourth Barcelona International Photography Festival on Human Rights and Global Justice (2024–25), and he was a founder of ByPa, an online platform aimed at amplifying and disseminating Palestinian creative voices. 

A former colleague of Abu Hatab’s, identified as Mohammad, remembers him as “a strong, kind-hearted, and hardworking photojournalist and director who just wanted to show the world the true picture of Gaza.” He added that Abu Hatab pursued his photography “with passion and professionalism, never letting the burdens of war stop him from his work.” 

Ethan Luk is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.