"If you're reading this, it means I have been killed – most likely targeted – by the Israeli occupation forces. When all this started, I was only 21 years old, a student with dreams like everyone else..." Having covered the war from northern Gaza since Hamas's attack on Israel in October 2023, journalist Hossam Shabat, 23, knew his life was under threat. He left it to those close to him to publish a final message on his behalf, written in case he was killed.
On Monday, March 24, the young reporter for Al Jazeera Mubasher, the Qatari channel's Arabic-language live broadcasting service, died in Beit Lahia after the car in which he was traveling was targeted by an Israeli drone. The Israeli army claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday, saying Shabat was a "sniper" for the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. In images filmed by Agence France-Presse, the vehicle, which was clearly marked with the TV station's logo and name, was hit in the rear, and the journalist's body was found lying on the ground nearby.
"I wear a press vest, as well as a helmet. We always try to be identified as journalists so that the occupying army has no argument to target us," Shabat explained to Le Monde in June 2024, as part of an investigation conducted by the Forbidden Stories platform and 12 international media outlets. "But (...) we see our vest as something that exposes us and puts us in danger. Israeli forces deliberately attack journalists. It's targeting, and our press vests expose us," he added. For the past eighteen months, the Israeli authorities have banned foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip.
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