Hossam Shabat (; 10 October 2001 – 24 March 2025) was a Palestinian journalist who reported on the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

as a correspondent for ''Al Jazeera Mubasher'' and also contributed to ''Drop Site News''. Shabat was killed by an Israeli airstrike on 24 March 2025, after Israel ended the

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...

established in January 2025 by resuming airstrikes on Gaza. 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 until that day. On 23 October 2024, the Israeli military, without providing verifiable evidence, had accused Shabat and five other Palestinian journalists of being members of the militant groups

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

and Islamic Jihad, accusations which he denied and said served as threats against his life. Witnesses reported that the attack appeared to be targeted, and the IDF later acknowledged that they had targeted Hossam.

Early life

Shabat was a resident of

Gaza City Gaza City, also called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Port of Gaza, Palestine's only port. With a population of ...

and, prior to the conflict, he 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.

Journalism during the conflict

On 23 October 2024, the Israeli military accused six Palestinian journalists working for ''Al Jazeera'' in Gaza, among them Shabat, of being fighters in

and

Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...

. ''Al Jazeera'' denied these accusations and described them as based on "fabricated evidence". The IDF said that documents it had found in Gaza proved that Shabat was a sniper in Hamas' Beit Hanoun Battalion. 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". Israel had already killed Ismail al-Ghoul, another ''Al Jazeera'' journalist in Gaza that it had accused of being member of Hamas in an airstrike late July 2024. ''

Reporters sans frontières Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as founded on the beli ...

'' said that 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". It said the accusations against Shabat were part of an "all-too-familiar pattern

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

fuels the unprecedented massacre of journalists happening in Gaza". Around 27 October 2024, Shabat described life as a journalist in Gaza as being someone who is "hunted". Shabat faced numerous challenges, including displacement from his home in

Beit Hanoun Beit Hanoun or Beit Hanun () is a Palestinian city on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 52,237 in 2017. As a result of the ongoing Gaza war, Beit Hanou ...

, threats from the

Israeli military The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, an ...

, 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.

Killing

Background

Death

The IDF had previously threatened Hossam, and on 23 October 2024 accused 6 journalists, including Hossam, of being members of Hamas or the PIJ. Hossam denied any involvement, and also stated that these were clear death threats and that they served as an excuse to pre-emptively justify killing him. On 24 March 2025, he was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit his car near

Beit Lahia Beit Lahia or Beit Lahiya () is a city in the Gaza Strip, north of Jabalia, in the North Gaza Governorate of the State of Palestine. It sits next to Beit Hanoun and close to the border with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Burea ...

in northern Gaza. Witnesses reported that the attack appeared to be targeted. His death occurred on the same day as another Palestinian journalist, Mohammed Mansour, who was killed in a separate Israeli attack in southern Gaza. 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". The IDF provided no evidence to support the claim that Shabat had attacked IDF troops or Israeli civilians.

References