Palestinian academic and activist Refaat Alareer was killed on Wednesday in an airstrike in northern Gaza, according to his father-in-law. He was 44.

A literature professor at the Islamic University of Gaza, Alareer became known outside the territory for editing two books of essays and short fiction in English about the struggles of life in the Gaza Strip: Gaza Writes Back and Gaza Unsilenced.

Alareer, who also wrote his own poetry and short fiction, gained a global following for his political activism on behalf of Palestinians. But in Israel, he was notorious for comments he made online and in his classroom that were virulently anti-Israeli and antisemitic.

“We could die this dawn,” Alareer wrote on December 4, in one of his last social media posts. “I wish I were a freedom fighter so I die fighting back those invading Israeli genocidal maniacs invading my neighborhood and city.”

In one of his last poems, posted on the social media website X, formerly known as Twitter, he discussed the possibility of his death:

If I must die

let it bring hope

let it be a tale

Saker Abu Hain, Alareer’s father-in-law, confirmed his death to The New York Times.

To many Palestinians and their supporters, Alareer was an important champion of Palestinian writers.

“More than a teacher, he was a mentor, a friend, and he truly cared about his students beyond the classroom,” Jehad Abusalim, a Palestinian writer who studied under Alareer, wrote on social media.

New York Times News Service