LONDON – Two journalists were killed in separate Israeli strikes in Gaza on Monday, marking the first such fatalities since clashes resumed last week.
Al Jazeera confirmed that Hossam Shabat, a journalist for the Al Jazeera Mubasher channel, was killed in eastern Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza. The Qatari network reported that witnesses claimed his car was directly targeted by the Israeli army, though no further details were provided.
In a separate incident, Palestine Today correspondent Mohammad Mansour was killed in an airstrike north of Khan Younis, along with his wife and son, after their home was hit without warning.
The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned the attacks, describing them as “systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals.” In a statement, it called on the International Federation of Journalists, the Arab Journalists Union, and other global media organizations to denounce the killings.
“We hold the Israeli occupation, the US administration, and the countries participating in the genocide, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, fully responsible for committing this heinous crime,” the statement added.
The deaths of Shabat and Mansour bring the total number of media workers killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, to at least 160, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The Government Media Office, however, claims the number is as high as 208.
CPJ’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg condemned Shabat’s killing, noting that he was one of six Al Jazeera journalists accused by the Israeli military of being “militants.”
She said: “That’s a pattern that we have seen repeatedly both in the current war and in previous ones as well. And now he appears to have been deliberately targeted on a direct hit on his vehicle.”
Ginsberg stressed that the deliberate targeting and killing of a journalist or civilian constitutes a war crime. “Journalists and civilians must never be targeted,” she said, adding that CPJ is investigating several incidents in which Israel appears to have deliberately targeted journalists.
AN, 24.3.2025
