Around 2 p.m. EST Monday, the journalist Mohammad Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today TV, was martyred alongside his wife and child in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Khan Younis. Beloved Al Jazeera reporter Hossam Shabat quickly shared the news on his social media. He then followed up with another message: “Oh people of the Emirates, oh people of Saudi, oh people of Jordan, oh people of Egypt… Where are you?”
An hour later, "Israel" killed Shabat in a targeted drone strike on his car in Beit Lahia. Shabat and Mansour join a list of more than 210 media workers in Gaza assassinated by the occupation since the beginning of the genocide.
Before October 7th, Shabat, just 21 years old, was a journalism student. “Little did I know I would be given one of the hardest jobs in the world,” he tweeted last April, “to cover the genocide of my own people. After 193 days, I have lost close to 100 people from friends and family (that I know of). I lost my house the very first day. I lost about 23 kg (50 pounds), I lost my city, I lost myself.”
As one of the last remaining journalists in northern Gaza, Shabat documented the Zionists' engineered famine in Gaza, their obstruction of life-saving medical aid from entering the North, and their targeting of hospitals and shelters for the displaced. He reported with immense heart and courage, always at the front of the front lines, delivering news of the latest U.S.-funded Israeli massacres to the world. He closely followed Western media’s reporting on Gaza, articulating with sharp acuity the way newsrooms, like that of The New York Times, launder Israel’s genocidal narratives. Last June, he tweeted:
“Language is important. Language makes genocide justifiable. A reason why we are still being bombed after 243 days is because of The New York Times and most Western media. They continue to spread misinformation, and are willing to jump many hoops instead of stating that Israel is committing genocide or that Israel is killing Palestinians daily. The New York Times is complicit in this genocide. The New York Times has the blood of 15,000 Palestinian children on their hands.”
"Israel" assassinates media workers to prevent the world from knowing the truth about its regime of ethnic supremacy and terror. In a case like Shabat’s, the occupation also attempts to kill the spirit of the Palestinian struggle for liberation by silencing its most cherished voices. Shabat was an undeniably bright light, a pride and hope of Gaza’s displaced and hungry, and a beacon to those in the diaspora fighting the imperial Zionist machine in their universities and workplaces. His smile was infectious; it made him appear invincible. We believe that he still is. The Zionists can kill Palestinian journalists with precision-guided U.S. weaponry, but they cannot kill the story.
Several hours after his martyrdom, Shabat's friends published a message he had written to be shared in the case of his death: “If you’re reading this, it means I have been killed—most likely targeted—by the Israeli Occupation Forces,” the statement began.
“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. I did all this because I believe in the Palestinian cause. I believe this land is ours, and it has been the highest honor 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.”
Rest in power Hossam Shabat, Mohammad Mansour, and all the brave Palestinian journalists martyred by the occupation army. In your memory, we carry on the fight.
Click to download the full set of martyr posters for Hossam Shabat. These posters are designed to be printed in full color on 11 x 17" paper.