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Hossam Shabat

Hossam Shabat
Born10 October 2001 (2001-10-10)
Beit Hanoun, Palestine
Died24 March 2025 (2025-03-25) (aged 23)
Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip, Palestine
Cause of deathTargeted by Israeli airstrike
OccupationReporter

Hossam Shabat (Arabic: حسام شبات; 10 October 2001 – 24 March 2025) was a Palestinian journalist who reported on the Gaza war as a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher and also contributed to Drop Site News.[1][2][3]

Shabat was killed by an Israeli airstrike on 24 March 2025, after Israel ended the ceasefire established in January 2025 by resuming airstrikes on Gaza.[1][4] Shabat and another Palestinian journalist, Mohammed Mansour, also killed by the Israeli military on 24 March, are among the at least 208 journalists and media workers who have been killed in the Gaza war as of that date.[5][1] The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), without providing verifiable evidence,[6] had previously accused Shabat and five other Palestinian journalists of being members of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, accusations which he denied and said served as threats against his life.[1] Witnesses reported that the attack appeared to be targeted, and the IDF later acknowledged that they had targeted Shabat.[1]

Early life

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Shabat was a resident of Gaza City and, prior to the conflict, aspired to build a media and marketing company. He was also involved in the hospitality sector, owning a restaurant that was later destroyed during the war.[7]

Journalism during the conflict

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Around 27 October 2024, Shabat described life as a journalist in Gaza as being someone who is "hunted".[8] Shabat faced numerous challenges, including displacement from his home in Beit Hanoun, threats from the Israeli military, the destruction of his family's restaurant, and the loss of 30 family members. Despite these hardships, he continued his reporting, often working on an empty stomach and living in accommodation centers.[3][7]

Killing

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Background

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Killing of journalists in the Gaza war

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This section is an excerpt from Killing of journalists in the Gaza war.[edit]

The killing of journalists in the Gaza war, overwhelmingly Palestinian, along with other acts of violence against journalists, marks the deadliest period for journalists in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict since 1992 and the single deadliest conflict for journalists in all known conflicts in the history of the world, according to the Costs of War Project.[9][10][11] According to the United Nations, the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel since the start of the war stood at 242 by 11 August 2025.[12][13] On the other hand, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that 192 journalists, at least 184 of them Palestinian, had been killed by Israel as of 10 August 2025[14][15] while the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reported the killing of at least 180 Palestinian journalists and media workers by Israel as of 11 August 2025.[16] A July 2024 count by the Gaza Government Media Office placed the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel at 160.[17][18]. By January 2025, Israel had reportedly killed 42 more Palestinian journalists to raise this number to 202,[19] and by July 2025, it had reportedly killed 15 more journalists to raise the number to 217.[20] An aggregation of data from multiple sources, including from the CPJ and the IFJ, which listed the names of all journalists hitherto reported to have been killed by Israel concluded that, by 11 August 2025, Israel had killed up to 274 journalists, with 269 of them Palestinian.[21]

The head of the Committee to Protect Journalists stated in 2024, "Israel's war on Gaza is more deadly to journalists than any previous war".[22][23] Israeli airstrikes additionally damaged or destroyed an estimated 48 media facilities in Gaza. Reporters Without Borders has reported that the Israeli army intentionally targeted Palestinian journalists.[24] The Guardian stated that contrary to international law, Israel had targeted Hamas-affiliated Palestinian journalists despite their non-involvement in combat, thus disputing Israel's denial of targeting journalists.[25] In 2023, nearly 75% of journalists killed worldwide were Palestinians who had died in Israel’s war in Gaza.[26][25] According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel was the second worst country in the world for allowing the murderers of journalists to go unpunished.[27]

Israeli accusations of involvement with Hamas

[edit]

On 23 October 2024, the IDF accused six Palestinian journalists working for Al Jazeera in Gaza, among them Shabat, of being fighters in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.[28] Al Jazeera denied these accusations and described them as based on "fabricated evidence".[28] The IDF said that documents it had found in Gaza proved that Shabat was a sniper in Hamas' Beit Hanoun Battalion.[29] Shabat said these were fabricated dossiers designed to frame him as a "terrorist" and that accusations were to make him and his colleagues "killable targets", adding that they constituted death threats against him.[28][30] According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the documents published by the Israeli military on Shabat "severely lacked proof these journalists were affiliated with the military and in no way granted a licence to kill". RSF said the accusations against Shabat were part of an "all-too-familiar pattern [which] fuels the unprecedented massacre of journalists happening in Gaza".[31] In July 2024, Israel killed Ismail al-Ghoul, another Al Jazeera journalist in Gaza that it had accused of being affiliated with Hamas.[28]

Death

[edit]

On 24 March 2025, Shabat was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit his car near Beit Lahia in northern Gaza. Witnesses reported that the attack appeared to be targeted.[1] His death occurred on the same day as another Palestinian journalist, Mohammed Mansour, who was killed in a separate Israeli attack in southern Gaza.[32][33]

On the following day, the IDF confirmed that it had deliberately targeted Shabat, stating that "during the war, Shabat carried out attacks and participated in terrorist activities against IDF forces and citizens of the State of Israel. This is further proof of the employment of Hamas terrorists by the Al Jazeera media network".[34] The IDF provided no evidence to support the claim that Shabat had attacked IDF troops or Israeli civilians.[6]

Shabat's colleague Anas Al-Sharif participated in the funeral procession. He told Drop Site News that he was determined to continue reporting despite Israeli threats.[35] In August of 2025, Al-Sharif was himself killed in a targetted strike by the IDF along with four other journalists and two civilians during the Gaza War.[36]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "CPJ denounces Israel's killing of 2 more Gaza journalists in return to war". Committee to Protect Journalists. 24 March 2025. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  2. ^ "Israel kills Al Jazeera and Palestine Today journalists in separate attacks in Gaza". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Statement from Drop Site News on Israel's Murder of Our Colleague Hossam Shabat: We Hold Both Israel and the U.S. Government Responsible". Drop Site News. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  4. ^ "Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat killed in Israeli attack on Gaza". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  5. ^ "Press freedom groups condemn targeted killing of two journalists in Israeli strikes". The Guardian. 25 March 2025.
  6. ^ a b Westfall, Sammy. "Israeli strikes kill two Gaza journalists, including Al Jazeera reporter". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  7. ^ a b Chaabane, Hussein (26 March 2024). "Hossam Shabat From Northern Gaza: Resistance in the Time of Genocide". Legal Agenda. Archived from the original on 19 December 2024. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  8. ^ Chekuru, Kavitha (10 November 2024). "Opinion | Israel Keeps Attacking Journalists. When Will the U.S. Intervene?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  9. ^ "Gaza – the deadliest war for journalists, but they keep reporting". Al Jazeera. Doha, Qatar: Al Jazeera Media Network. 2 April 2025. Archived from the original on 1 July 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  10. ^ Turse, Nick (1 April 2025). News Graveyards: How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World. The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs (Report). Providence, Rhode Island, US: Brown University. Archived from the original on 12 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  11. ^ Solaimane, Mohamed (11 August 2025). "Gaza – the deadliest war for journalists, but they keep reporting". TRT Global. Istanbul, Turkey: TRT. Archived from the original on 13 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  12. ^ "Gaza: Guterres urges probe into killing of journalists, as child malnutrition deaths rise". UN News. New York, US: United Nations. 11 August 2025. Archived from the original on 13 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  13. ^ "UN says 242 journalists killed in Gaza as Al Jazeera mourns those killed in Israeli strike". France 24. Paris, France. 11 August 2025. Archived from the original on 13 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  14. ^ "Israel kills Al Jazeera journalists in targeted Gaza City airstrike". CPJ. New York, US: Committee to Protect Journalists. 10 August 2025. Archived from the original on 13 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  15. ^ "The 184 Palestinian journalists killed in the war in Gaza endured hunger and grief". AP News. New York, US: The Associated Press. 12 August 2025. Archived from the original on 12 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  16. ^ "Palestine: Israel kills five Al Jazeera staff in a targeted attack on a journalists' tent in Gaza City". IFJ. Brussels, Belgium: International Federation of Journalists. 11 August 2025. Archived from the original on 13 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  17. ^
  18. ^ Jones, Kathy (30 October 2023). "Journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza conflict". Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  19. ^ "Gaza atrocities by the numbers". Al Jazeera. 15 January 2025.
  20. ^ Sinan, Yazan. "Decades of Israeli Forces Killing Journalists With Impunity". sourced.press. Archived from the original on 30 June 2025. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  21. ^ "Here are the names of the journalists Israel killed in Gaza". Al Jazeera. Doha, Qatar: Al Jazeera Media Network. 11 August 2025. Archived from the original on 13 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  22. ^ "CPJ: The Gaza war is the deadliest for journalists". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  23. ^ Chacar, Henriette (21 December 2023). "Gaza war 'most dangerous ever' for journalists, says rights group". Reuters. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  24. ^ McNeill, Zane (10 October 2023). "Palestinian Journalists Targeted, Killed Amid Israel's Onslaught on Gaza". Truthout. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  25. ^ a b Davies, Harry; Ganguly, Manisha; Pegg, David; Abraham, Yuval; McKernan, Bethan; Osman, Hoda (25 June 2024). "'The grey zone': how Hamas-linked journalists are viewed as legitimate targets". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  26. ^ "Nearly 75% of journalists killed in 2023 died in Israel's war on Gaza: CPJ". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  27. ^ Scott, Liam (30 October 2024). "Haiti, Israel ranked worst for securing justice in journalist killings". Voice of America. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  28. ^ a b c d Boxerman, Aaron (23 October 2024). "Israel Accuses 6 Al Jazeera Reporters of Belonging to Militant Groups". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  29. ^ Yohanan, Nurit. "Report: Al Jazeera reporter identified by IDF as Hamas operative killed in strike". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  30. ^ @HossamShabat (24 October 2024). ""اتهامات. كاذبة تشكل تهديدا بالاغتيال ومحاولة واضحة لتبرير قتلنا مسبقا ." مراسل قناة الجزيرة مباشر حسام شبات يكشف أنه يتعرض لحملة تحريض شرسة، وتصله رسائل تهديد بالقتل من متطرفين إسرائيليين، مؤكدا ان حساباته المختلفة على منصات التواصل الاجتماعي تعرضت لبلاغات جماعية" ["False accusations that constitute an assassination threat and a clear attempt to justify our pre-emptive killing." Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Hossam Shabat revealed that he is being subjected to a fierce incitement campaign and is receiving death threats from Israeli extremists. He confirmed that his various social media accounts have been subjected to mass reports.] (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  31. ^ "Gaza: RSF condemns targeted Israeli strike that killed Al-Jazeera correspondent Hossam Shabat". Reporters sans frontières. 25 March 2025. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  32. ^ Abuaisha, Nour; Abu Shamala, Rania (24 March 2025). "Israeli attacks kill 2 more journalists in Gaza as death toll rises to 208". Anadolu Ajansı. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  33. ^ "Al Jazeera, Palestine Today journalists killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza". KOMO. Associated Press. 24 March 2025. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  34. ^ "IDF confirms killing Al Jazeera reporter who was also a Hamas sniper". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  35. ^ Kouddous, Sharif Abdel. "Marked for Assassination: Gaza Journalists on Israeli Hit List Refuse to Stop Reporting". Drop Site News. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  36. ^ Mpoke Bigg, Matthew. "Strike That Killed 5 Journalists Was Aimed at One of Them, Israel Says". Nytimes.com. New York Times.