Palestinian journalists lift placards during a rally in protest of the killing of fellow reporters Hussam Shabat and Muhammad Mansour in Israeli strikes a day earlier, at the al-Ahli Arab hospital, also known as the Baptist hospital, in Gaza City. AFP
Israel resumed intense air strikes across Gaza last Tuesday, followed by ground operations.
Gaza's civil defense agency said that an Israeli drone strike on Monday afternoon killed Hussam Shabat, who was working with Al Jazeera, near a petrol station in Beit Lahia.
Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency, said air strikes had targeted more than 10 cars, including Shabat's, in various parts of Gaza.
Later in the evening, Israeli army spokesman issued "an early warning before a strike" in the northern area of Jabalia.
"Hussam Shabat, a journalist collaborating with Al Jazeera Mubasher, was martyred in an Israeli strike targeting his car in the northern Gaza Strip," an alert from the Qatari-based broadcaster said, referring to its live Arabic channel.
AFPTV footage from the scene in Beit Lahia showed Palestinians gathering around the car, which had an Al Jazeera sticker on its windscreen. A body could be seen on the ground nearby.
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the attack that killed Shabat and demanded "an independent international investigation" to assess whether the journalist was intentionally targetted by Israeli troops.
Hundreds of people attended Shabat's funeral held at Beit Lahia's Indonesian Hospital, praying over his body, which still wore a press flak jacket.
The civil defense agency said a media worker from Islamic Jihad-affiliated Palestine Today TV, Muhammad Mansour, was killed in a separate air strike in Gaza's south.
In a statement, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called the deaths of Shabat and Mansour "a crime added to the record of Israeli terrorism".
The CPJ also condemned his killing stating.
It said that more than 206 journalists and media workers had been killed since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, the targeting of journalists has reached unprecedented levels, making it the deadliest period for media professionals since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.
As of March 24, 2025, CPJ’s preliminary investigations show that at least 173 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon. The majority of those killed—165—were Palestinian, alongside two Israeli and six Lebanese journalists. Additionally, 59 journalists have been reported injured, two remain missing, and 75 have been arrested.
The deliberate targeting of civilians, including journalists, constitutes a war crime under international law. Journalists, as civilians, are granted protection under international humanitarian law. However, CPJ has documented at least 11 journalists and two media workers who were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings classified as murders.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken steps toward accountability, announcing in May that it was seeking arrest warrant applications for Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. United Nations experts have also condemned the high number of journalist casualties, stating in February that they were "alarmed at the extraordinarily high numbers of journalists and media workers who have been killed, attacked, injured, and detained in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in Gaza, in recent months, blatantly disregarding international law."
*This story was edited by Ahram Online
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