Shabat was targeted by an Israeli drone strike on his car on Monday in Beit Lahia [GETTY]
A Palestinian journalist has shared his final message after being killed by an Israeli drone strike targeting his car in the devastated town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday.
Hossam Shabat’s team shared the statement on his X account a few hours after his death.
“If you’re reading this, it means I have been killed – most likely targeted – by the Israeli occupation forces,” Shabat wrote in the statement, speaking about how he dedicated the last 18 months to documenting Israel’s assault in northern Gaza, determined to show the world what was happening.
“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,” Shabat, best known for his reporting for Al-Jazeera said.
“I did all this because I believe in the Palestinian cause. I believe this land is ours, and it has been the highest honour of my life to die defending it and serving its people.
“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.”
Tributes from Gaza and around the world are pouring in for the journalist, expressing outrage over Shabat’s killing and praising his work.
Abdul Hakim Abu Riash, a photographer who worked with Hussam Shabat on several journalistic assignments, expressed his grief.
“Hussam was more than a colleague; he was the spirit that gave us strength amidst this devastation,” Riash told The New Arab.
Abu Riash said he was waiting for Shabat’s usual message letting him know he was okay but received news of his death instead.
“I can’t believe he’s gone. Hussam was brave. He went to the most dangerous places without hesitation because, for him, the truth was worth all the risks,” Abu Riash said.
The photographer described how Shabat would pay attention to the smallest of details, asking about people’s conditions after every airstrike, walking through neighbourhoods that were destroyed and sitting with survivors to hear their stories first-hand.
He did all this while staying up all night editing photos and writing reports, refusing to rest until he could portray the suffering of the people of Gaza as accurately as possible.
Abu Riash recalls a saying the journalist would always say to him: “We are the voice of the people. If we remain silent, who will speak for them?”
“Now, I feel like I’ve lost a part of myself. Working without him will be difficult. His voice and laughter on the field will always accompany me,” Abu Riash concluded.
‘They must see what’s happening to us.’
“Hussam was a journalist committed to his people’s cause. He was keen to convey their suffering honestly, and his voice was always present in the most difficult moments,” Mohammed Adwan, a journalist who worked with Shabat, told The New Arab.
Adwan recalled how he last spoke to Shabat about his plans to cover the conditions of the Palestinians displaced in Rafah.
The journalist also spoke about Shabat’s uncanny ability to cope with fear. He would silently cry after finishing his work covering Israel’s massacres but would return to the field the next day with a smile and strength as if nothing had happened.
After hiding from Israeli shelling, he would come out with his camera, take pictures and then return and say: “They must see what’s happening to us.”
“He was enthusiastic, as ever, and carried his words with determination and resolve. When I heard the news of his martyrdom, I felt as if something inside me had broken,” Adwan says.
“Hussam wasn’t just a coworker, he was a friend and a brother. His passing has left a void within us that will never be filled.
“Hussam’s images and words will always be with us, and the truth he lived for will live on in our hearts,” he said.
A video of Shabat speaking to a young Palestinian girl aspiring to be a journalist, who thought he was killed after the Israeli army entered northern Gaza in February 2024, has begun circulating online.
“I swear I missed you. I thought you were martyred,” the girl said. “We were about to morn you, man. How am I supposed to become a journalist now if Hossam Shabat were martyred?”
Shabat revealed in December he had received a threat from Israeli intelligence in the first week of Israel’s war, telling him to delete his posts on Facebook.
The journalist worked for Al Jazeera Mubasher and Drop Site News, reporting from north Gaza as Israel launched its devastating and indiscriminate attacks, sleeping anywhere he could on pavements, schools and tents while enduring hunger for months.
Drop Site shared the journalist’s final article, describing the Israeli army resuming its offensive in his hometown of Beit Hanoun.
The website shared how Shabat was forced to leave his hometown after Israel renewed its offensive on the Gaza Strip last week and ended up in Jabalia.
Journalist Muhammad Mansour, who worked for Palestine Today TV, was also killed after an Israeli airstrike targeted his home in Khan Younis on Monday, bringing the total number of journalists killed in Gaza to 208 since October 2023 – according to the Gaza Government Media Office.
The Committee to Protect Journalists found Israel to be responsible for the deaths of 70 percent of journalists killed worldwide in 2024.
The United State Department’s spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, blamed Hamas for “every single thing that’s happening” in Gaza after being asked about the killings.
