JERUSALEM: Israel's military on Tuesday said it had killed a journalist working for Al Jazeera in Gaza a day earlier, alleging that he was a “sniper terrorist” for Hamas.
“Yesterday, the IDF (military) and the Shin Bet (security agency) eliminated... a sniper terrorist from the Beit Hanun Battalion of the Hamas terrorist organisation, who was also employed as a journalist by Al Jazeera,“ a joint statement from the military and security agency said, referring to Hussam Shabat.
Al Jazeera said Shabat was killed in an Israeli strike on his vehicle in northern Gaza on Monday.
The Israeli statement said the military and security agency had “in October 2024... exposed the terrorist’s direct affiliation with the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organisation.”
It said “internal Hamas documents” proved he had taken part in military training conducted by the Beit Hanun Battalion of Hamas in 2019.
An Al Jazeera alert on Monday said: “Hussam Shabat, a journalist collaborating with Al Jazeera Mubasher, was martyred in an Israeli strike targeting his car in the northern Gaza Strip”, referring to the network’s live Arabic channel.
Gaza's civil defence agency confirmed Shabat's death, saying he was targeted in an Israeli drone strike on his car on Monday afternoon near a petrol station in the northern town of Beit Lahia.
Israel restarted intense air strikes across the densely populated Gaza Strip last week followed by ground operations, shattering the relative calm of a six-week ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
