PERSON: Mahmoud Khalil

Gaza Solidarity Encampment

Spokesperson

Mahmoud Khalil (Arabic: محمود خليل, romanized: Maḥmūd Khalīl; born 1995) is an Algerian-Palestinian man known for his role as a negotiator and spokesperson in the 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment and broader protests in solidarity with Palestine at Columbia University during the Gaza war and genocide while he was a graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, and for his detention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2025.

Khalil was born in 1995 to Palestinian parents in a refugee camp in Syria. His mother has Algerian ancestors who migrated to Palestine during the Ottoman Empire, which is how Khalil holds Algerian citizenship. He organized protests against Assad’s regime during the Syrian revolution, but fled Syria in 2013 after two of his friends were detained.

Khalil completed his bachelor’s degree in computer science at Lebanese American University in Beirut before enrolling in Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he earned his Master of Public Administration in development practice in December 2024. The same year, he was granted lawful permanent resident status in the United States.

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