"May God protect you, my brother. I can't describe how much I miss you." On July 1, Ahmad Abu Hatab bid farewell to his brother through a video posted on Instagram. Ismail had been killed the day before by an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Baqa café in Gaza City. The video shows the 32-year-old photojournalist and filmmaker playing with his cockatiel, making coffee, filming himself among the rubble of his neighborhood – then, the harrowing footage of his lifeless body, held in his relatives' arms.

Hundreds of other posts and comments pay tribute to him. As with many Palestinians killed in Gaza, Ismail's Instagram account has become a digital memorial. Despite his death, his account remains active, maintained by his brother Ahmad. "Being able to recover his account was a small victory. As if he were telling us: 'I'm still here,'" said the 26-year-old, who has been stranded abroad ever since Israel closed the enclave's borders.

In 2023, after Ismail was seriously wounded in a first airstrike, he gave his account login details to his brother. Today, he uses the account to promote the traveling exhibition his brother had been preparing together with illustrator Frans al-Salmi, who was killed alongside him. For Ahmad, posting also represents an "act of loyalty." "No social network can contain the depth of this grief. But, for us, Instagram has become a way to make sure Ismail Abu Hatab's name is not reduced to a number. It's not a tool for healing, but a tool for bearing witness."

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