Hamada Shaqoura

Hamada Shaqoura
حمادة شقورة
Other namesHamada Sho
OccupationFood blogger
Known forCooking for displaced children in the Gaza war
Children1
AwardsJames Beard Award for Emerging Voice in Broadcast Media (2025), Time 100 Next (2024)
WebsiteInstagram: hamadashoo

Hamada Shaqoura (Arabic: حمادة شقورة[1]), also known as Hamada Sho, is a Palestinian food blogger from Gaza City. He is known for posting social media videos of himself cooking and distributing meals for displaced children during the Gaza war. In his videos, he stares intensely at the camera without speaking or smiling. Shaqoura was recognized with the Time 100 Next list in 2024 and a James Beard Award for Emerging Voice in Broadcast Media in 2025. Business Insider created a short documentary about him, The Man Who Feeds Gaza's Children (2024), which won a News and Documentary Emmy. For several months in 2025, Shaqoura was unable to cook or distribute food due to the Israeli blockade of Gaza and ensuing famine. Time published his essay “I Can No Longer Feed Kids in Gaza”. By the end of the year, he had resumed cooking and posting to social media.

Social media career

For several years before the Gaza war, Shaqoura promoted restaurants in Gaza through his social media marketing business.[2][3][4] Shaqoura has praised Gazan restaurants for striving to create high quality food despite the 17 year blockade of Gaza.[5]

Gaza war

During the Gaza war, Shaqoura was displaced from his home in northern Gaza to refugee camps in the south.[5] His house and recording studio were destroyed.[4][6][7] Food, gas, and potable water were very limited due to the intensification of the Israeli blockade and their attacks on sanitation infrastructure.[2][4][5] After several months, he grew tired of his meals based on aid packages and resolved to cook more creatively.[5][4]

In conjunction with aid organizations like Watermelon Relief,[6][8] Shaqoura began cooking large batches of food for displaced children and posting videos of the process on social media.[9][4][10] Based largely on canned food from aid packages,[9][11][7] Shaqoura cooked dishes like chicken curry, pizza wraps, burgers, tacos, and caramel apples.[2][3][12] He improvised meals with whatever ingredients he could find, like pizza crust from tortillas and mayonnaise from milk, cheese, and vinegar.[5][4][10] Shaqoura is known for cooking while frowning at the camera without speaking in his videos.[13] He says his facial expression represents how he and Palestinians feel about the conditions in Gaza,[2][14] telling CBS News: "The situation does not call for smiling. What you see on screen will never show you how hard life is here."[15] His videos include footage of Shaqoura distributing food to smiling children,[2] who often respond by saying: "zaki", which means "delicious" in Palestinian Arabic.[16][17][18] Shaqoura has stated that his motivation was to bring joy to children by recreating their favorite dishes and offering them some variety in their diet.[9][5] He has also stated that he wanted to show Palestinian resilience through his videos.[17][9][14]

Israel instituted a total blockade of Gaza in March 2025, making it more difficult for Shaqoura to access food and forcing Watermelon Relief to close its kitchen.[19] Due to the ensuing Gaza Strip Famine and Israeli attacks on aid distribution sites, Shaqoura was unable to cook large batches of food and did not post cooking videos for several months.[20][18][21] Children are especially vulnerable to the impacts of war.[6] In 2024, an estimated 90% of children in Gaza were experiencing severe food insecurity.[22][23] By July 2025, 16.5% of children under 5 in Gaza City were suffering from acute malnutrition.[24][25]

Shaqoura stated that he typically ate bread twice a week.[20] In July 2025, he stated that he was helping to deliver drinking water in hard to reach areas.[26][27] In his Time essay, "I Can No Longer Feed Kids in Gaza",[27][24] and his The Drift essay, "The Silence in My Kitchen",[28] Shaqoura wrote about the starvation in Gaza and encountering children on the street who asked him when he would cook again.

By October 2025, access to food had improved in Gaza and he resumed cooking and posting videos.[21]

Recognition

Shaqoura's videos have millions of views[29] and some have gone viral.[4][19][26] As of July 2024, he had 111,000 TikTok followers;[2] by June 2025 he had more than 600,000 followers on Instagram.[13] He was featured on the 2024 Time 100 Next list[14][12][6] and won a 2025 James Beard Award for Emerging Voice in Broadcast Media.[20][30][18] Shaqoura's acceptance speech was pre-recorded in front of a destroyed house.[20] The Man Who Feeds Gaza's Children (2024), a video about Shaqoura created by Business Insider, won a News & Documentary Emmy Award.[31][32][13]

Personal life

Born around 1992, Shaqoura is from Gaza City.[5][1] He was married shortly before the Gaza war.[7][17] His son and daughter were born during the war.[9][24][21]

References

  1. ^ a b جودة, أحمد. "شاهد.. شيف غزاوي يعد كريب التفاح للأطفال النازحين في رفح". الجزيرة نت (in Arabic). Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Hassan, Yasmine (2024-07-25). "This Gaza man makes videos cooking aid food for children in displacement camps". CBC.
  3. ^ a b "Hamada Shaqoura: The Food Blogger Cooking Through Gaza's Hunger Crisis". Outlook India. 2024-06-21. Retrieved 2025-07-13.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "The Palestinian Food Blogger Making 'Something Delicious' From Humanitarian Aid in Gaza". Haaretz. 2024-06-26.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Aziza, Sarah (2024-04-24). "The Food Blogger Cooking Through Gaza's Hunger Crisis". Bon Appétit. Retrieved 2025-07-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  6. ^ a b c d Minerdi, Daniela (2024-11-06). "La storia di Hamada Shaqoura, prima food blogger, ora cuoco per i bambini". Vanity Fair Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  7. ^ a b c "Gaza Food Blogger Transforms Aid Packages Into Nutritious Meals For Children". Foodbeast. 2025-09-11. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  8. ^ Escudero, Mònica (2024-07-31). "La guerra de Gaza contada desde la cocina". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  9. ^ a b c d e Raydan, Rodayna. "Hamada Shaqoura: The food blogger nurturing Gaza's children". The New Arab. Archived from the original on 2025-05-22. Retrieved 2025-07-13.
  10. ^ a b Obeid, Lama (2024-12-30). "Rescuing our recipes: Preserving Palestinian culture in times of war". Palestine in America. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  11. ^ "Gaza Food Blogger Turns Social Media Into Lifeline For Displaced Children". NDTV. 2024-06-24. Retrieved 2025-07-13.
  12. ^ a b Serhan, Yasmeen (2024-10-02). "2024 TIME100 Next: Hamada Shaqoura". TIME. Retrieved 2025-07-13.
  13. ^ a b c "Three Gaza features win at News and Documentary Emmys". Images. 2025-06-28. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  14. ^ a b c "Palestine food blogger Hamada Shaqoura featured on TIME100 Next 2024 list". Images. 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2025-07-13.
  15. ^ Williams, Holly (2024-11-24). "Gazan chefs cook up hope and humanity for online audience". CBS News. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  16. ^ "مدون فلسطيني يُحوّل المعلبات إلى أطباق لذيذة لأطفال غزة المتعبين من الحرب". الجزيرة نت (in Arabic). 2024-08-02. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  17. ^ a b c "Gaza food blogger serves 'hope on a plate' to war-weary kids". RFI. 2024-08-02. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  18. ^ a b c de Vries, Joost (2025-06-19). "Gazaanse Instagramkok wint prestigieuze culinaire prijs, maar zijn pannen blijven steeds vaker leeg". de volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 2025-09-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  19. ^ a b "Gaza content creators post videos from food kitchens amid risk of famine in Gaza". ABC News. 2025-05-26. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  20. ^ a b c d "Gaza Blogger Wins Prestigious Culinary Award for Videos Amplifying Palestinians' Struggle for Food". Haaretz. 2025-06-18.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  21. ^ a b c Ruprecht, Michal (2025-12-28). "Open up your TikTok world: Reels from the Global South are funny, fresh, informative". NPR. Retrieved 2026-01-29.
  22. ^ "TIME Reveals the 2024 TIME100 Next List of Emerging Leaders Shaping the Future". The Express Tribune. 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  23. ^ "UNICEF finds 90% of Gazan children lack food needed for proper growth". Reuters. 2024-06-06. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  24. ^ a b c "Palestinian food blogger Hamada Sho can no longer feed Gaza's children". Images. 2025-08-08. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  25. ^ "UN Agencies warn key food and nutrition indicators exceed famine thresholds in Gaza". UNICEF. 2025-07-29. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  26. ^ a b Factora, James (2025-07-09). ""Horrifying": Billie Eilish Speaks Out on Israel's Plan to Relocate All Palestinians in Gaza". Them. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  27. ^ a b Shaqoura, Hamada (2025-08-07). "Hamada Sho: I Can No Longer Feed Kids in Gaza". TIME. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  28. ^ Shaqoura, Hamada (2025-09-25). "The Silence in My Kitchen". The Drift. Retrieved 2025-09-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  29. ^ "'We Will Dance Again' among the films, TV programs covering Gaza war to get Emmy nod". The Times of Israel. 2025-05-03. ISSN 0040-7909. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  30. ^ DeJesus, Erin (2025-06-15). "Here Are the 2025 James Beard Foundation Media Award Winners". Eater. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  31. ^ "Business Insider wins two News & Documentary Emmys". Business Insider. 2025-06-26. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  32. ^ Schneider, Michael (2025-06-26). "CBS Tops 2025 News Emmy Wins; CNN's 'The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper' and ABC's 'World News Tonight with David Muir' Land Key Program Prizes". Variety. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
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