Israel Kills Al Jazeera Journalist Hossam Shabat, Palestine Today Journalist Mohammad Mansour. Gaza Journalists Death Toll Rises to 208

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) targeted and assassinated Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat in his car in Beit Lahia on March 24. Shabat was one of the only surviving journalists reporting from the north of Gaza. He was martyred at age 23. 

Shabat’s killing comes just hours after that of Palestine Today journalist Mohammed Mansour, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Khan Younis. Shabat reported on Mansour’s martyrdom on Instagram; the IOF killed him only minutes later.

On Friday, March 21, days after Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire in Gaza with a series of massacres, murdering over 700 Palestinians, Shabat posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) donning his Press vest and helmet.

“I thought it was over and I'd finally get some rest, but the genocide is back in full force, and I'm back on the front lines,” he told his followers.

Originally from Gaza City, Shabat reported on IOF’s incessant targeting of Palestinians and waves of mass expulsion in North Gaza. He was displaced over 20 times throughout Israel’s escalated genocide in the Strip but chose to remain in the north despite IOF threats and intimidation. 

Monday’s airstrike on Shabat’s car was not the first time that the IOF targeted the journalist. In November 2024, the IOF struck an already-bombed house that Shabat was reporting at. Shabat described the second strike as “part of [the] plan by the [Israeli] occupation army to target journalists,” saying, “It was a difficult moment to be the one trying to report the news and then becoming the news itself.” The November targeting came a month after the Israeli military accused six Al Jazeera journalists — Shabat included — of being “terrorists,” manufacturing consent for their targeted assassination. 

Gaza-based Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif expressed his grief for the loss of his colleague on X, sharing his last Instagram story, with the caption: “This is the last thing that the beloved martyr Hossam Shabat wrote on his Instagram account before his martyrdom.” In the story post, Shabat asked the people of the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt, “Where are you?”

Al Jazeera journalist Hind Khoudary — who has been a leading voice in covering the genocide from the ground in Gaza — also shared the news on X, adding, “Two colleagues killed in three hours. We may be next.”

To date, Israel has murdered at least 208 journalists in Gaza since the start of the escalated genocide in Gaza. According to the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 2024 was the deadliest year for journalists in the organization's three decades of operation; over 70% of journalists killed were Palestinians targeted by the IOF. In addition to targeting Palestinian journalists, the Occupation has also prohibited the entry of any foreign journalists into Gaza since the start of the escalated genocide, in an attempt to conceal the reality on the ground.

Director of Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah, called out mainstream media's complicity, “The vest and helmet didn't protect him. He was murdered not just by the Zionists, but by the silence and complicity of many ‘journalists’ who still help spread the regime's lies.”

DropSite News journalist and editor Sharif Kaddous posted that he was messaging with Shabat hours before he was killed. “I have no words… He was so brave, so relentless, so dedicated to telling the story of Palestinians in Gaza.”

Hossam’s team shared a post on his X account yesterday, a final message from the slain journalist. He reflects on his journey reporting on the genocide, which began when he was a 21-year-old college student.

“If you’re reading this, it means I have been killed—most likely targeted—by the Israeli occupation forces... For the past 18 months, I have dedicated every moment of my life to my people. I documented the horrors in northern Gaza minute by minute, determined to show the world the truth they tried to bury…. By God, I fulfilled my duty as a journalist. I risked everything to report the truth, and now, I am finally at rest – something I haven’t known in the past 18 months.”

His heartwrenching message ended with a plea for the world to speak about Gaza.

“I ask you now: do not stop speaking about Gaza. Do not let the world look away. Keep fighting, keep telling our stories—until Palestine is free.”