Award-winning Palestinian poet Hiba killed in Israeli bombing

SHAH ALAM – Award-winning Palestinian poet and writer Hiba Kamal Abu Nada lost her life in an Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip.

The Culture Palestine Ministry mourned her untimely death via an official statement shared on Facebook.

The ministry said Hiba had carved a name for herself in the literary world through her significant contributions, including captivating stories, novels, and poetry.

The author was born in Saudi Arabia in 1991 and hails from a refugee family displaced from Beit Jirja in 1948.

Despite her background in biochemistry and educational rehabilitation, Hiba was actively involved in the education sector, making a positive impact.

Her literary talent was recognised with several awards, including a first-place honour for short story writing in Palestine and a remarkable second-place distinction in the Arab world with the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity, awarded for her novel "Oxygen is not for the dead." The ongoing conflict in Gaza has become the deadliest of the five wars experienced by the region.

The Health Ministry in Gaza warned on Tuesday that electric generators in hospitals will cease functioning within the next 48 hours due to a fuel shortage.

"We have less than 48 hours before all electric generators in hospitals run out of fuel,” ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said in a brief statement on Telegram, as reported by Anadolu Agency.

He added that the mechanism followed to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza is "slow and cannot change reality," stressing that "the healthcare system has reached the worst stage in its history."