Gaza's feminist legal pioneer

Palestine has lost one of its most courageous legal minds and feminist voices. On 22 September, attorney Islah Saied Mahmoud Hassniyyeh, a pioneer in the Palestinian legal profession and defender of human and women's rights, passed away at the age of 77, after a life in the service of justice and dignity.  

Defiant until the very end, Hassniyyeh refused to leave what was left of her home in Gaza City, her city, despite intense Israeli bombardment. "I've experienced displacement and I don't want to repeat it," she told those around her. "Don’t worry, I'll most likely die in Gaza." This refusal was a final act of resistance in a life shaped by principled defiance. 

Defending the vulnerable

Born in Gaza City on 29 October 1949, Hassniyyeh broke barriers for Palestinian women. She earned her law degree from Ain Shams University in Cairo in 1975, at a time when very few Palestinian women entered the legal field. Upon returning to Gaza, she trained under renowned human rights lawyer Faraj Al-Sarraf and soon after opened the first female-run law office in the Gaza Strip in 1978.  

Her entry into a male-dominated profession was a courageous challenge to deeply entrenched norms. Hassniyyeh not only studied law; she practised it, lived it and transformed it into a tool for resistance and empowerment. Her determination laid the groundwork for future generations of women lawyers in Palestine.  

From the start of her career, she focused on defending the most vulnerable, including political prisoners and women facing oppression. In the 1970s and 1980s, she took on prisoners' cases in Israeli jails, including those held in the infamous Nafha prison and other facilities in the Negev, working alongside prominent Israeli lawyers like Felicia Langer. She did this pro bono, driven purely by principle and national duty. 

Hassniyyeh specialised in sharia and civil law, becoming the first woman licensed to plead before sharia courts in the Gaza Strip in 2002. In a field where even male lawyers struggled, she stood her ground as a woman, often the only woman in the courtroom and the only person speaking on behalf of those society had abandoned. 

A feminist visionary

Hassniyyeh was more than a lawyer; she was a feminist who worked tirelessly throughout her life to raise awareness among women about their legal rights, particularly around inheritance, divorce and the Personal Status Law.  

"We still treat female lawyers as if they don't belong in the courtroom," she once said. "As if defending rights requires physical strength instead of intellectual strength."

She spoke out about the social fears that silenced women: the fear of being shunned by family, the fear of violence and the fear of being labelled "too bold." She often pointed out that while laws existed to protect Palestinian women, they were rarely implemented, especially under conditions of Israeli occupation, political division and economic hardship. 

In 2002, Hassniyyeh ran for election to the Palestinian Bar Association and won, overcoming intense political resistance. She was the first woman ever elected to the association in Palestine. Her victory broke precedent and established a permanent women's quota in the Gaza branch of the association. 

As treasurer, she pushed for institutional reforms, accountability and professional standards, and fought to activate dormant committees, support grassroots lawyers and make the association more inclusive and accountable. She served on the association for over a decade, choosing later to step down and make room for younger voices.  

Hassniyyeh was a member of the Legal Committee of the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW). After Hamas's 2006 victory in the legislative elections, it seized control of the union's offices. In response to fears that this victory would impact women's rights, Islah and her colleagues co-founded the Center for Women's Legal Research, Counseling and Protection (CWLRCP), registered as a non-profit to ensure independence.  

The centre became a vital lifeline for women seeking justice, and a training ground for Palestinian lawyers. It offered legal services and capacity-building programs for women, and instructed young lawyers, particularly women, in legal practice and feminist jurisprudence.  

"The conscience of the law"

Toward the end of her life, as Gaza City faced the most intense bombardment in its history, Hassniyyeh's home was seriously damaged. She was displaced to the south, where she lived in tents without access to essential medication for diabetes and the high blood pressure she suffered from. When a ceasefire was declared in January 2025, she returned to her home, insisting on living within its ruins rather than suffering the indignity of displacement again.  

Despite being offered shelter elsewhere, she insisted, "as long as there are walls, I will live in them." Her room was repaired, a nurse was hired, but her health declined rapidly due to lack of food and medications resulting from the Israeli blockade. In her final days, surrounded by rubble, she slipped into a coma and passed away in the hospital. 

With her passing, Palestine lost a legal pioneer, a feminist warrior and a symbol of unwavering courage. But her legacy lives on, in the young women she mentored, the legal institutions she helped shape, the laws she fought to reform and the generations of lawyers inspired by her defiance. The Palestinian Bar Association, CWLRCP and countless colleagues mourn her loss, but more importantly, celebrate her impact.  

Hassniyyeh died as she lived; on her own terms, in her own home, refusing to be displaced, silenced or forgotten. Her life reminds us that justice is not just something practised in court; it is something lived, fought for and defended. Her story is not only one of professional achievement, but of personal sacrifice and feminist defiance. Her legacy will guide future generations of lawyers, of women and of Palestinians for years to come. 

"She was not just a lawyer," a colleague said, "she was the conscience of the law in Gaza."

Note: Dr. Riham Halaseh is Head of the Democracy and Human Rights Program at the Heinrich Böll Stiftung's Palestine and Jordan Office in Ramallah. She worked alongside Islah Hassniyyeh through the foundation's partnership with local organisations in Gaza.