The IDF confirmed that Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat, who was killed on Monday by Israeli forces, was a Hamas terrorist, the military announced on Tuesday morning.
The IDF and Shin Bet eliminated Shabat on Monday, stating that he was a sniper from Hamas's Beit Hanoun Battalion and "cynically posed as an Al Jazeera journalist."
The military claimed that in October 2024, the IDF and Shin Bet exposed Shabat's ties with Hamas and the terror group's military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, by revealing internal Hamas documents that proved that he had participated in military training in 2019.
During the Israel-Hamas war, Shabat carried out terror attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, the military claimed.
At the time of writing, Shabat had 580,000 followers on Instagram, where he frequently posted images of himself in a press vest and described himself in Hebrew as a journalist.
This is Hossam’s team, and we are sharing his final message :“If you’re reading this, it means I have been killed—most likely targeted—by the Israeli occupation forces. When this all began, I was only 21 years old—a college student with dreams like anyone else. For past 18… pic.twitter.com/80aNO6wtfO
— حسام شبات (@HossamShabat) March 24, 2025
He also has 171,200 followers on X/Twitter, where his "team" posted a memorial after his death.
The memorial claimed that he was "most likely targeted" by IDF and that he "risked everything to report the truth."
Denouncement from international organizations and advocacy groups
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denounced Israel's killing of Shabat, along with another journalist in airstrikes, stating that they are "appalled."
Shabat denied Israel’s claims, with Shabat stating in an interview with the CPJ that “we are civilians … Our only crime is that we convey the image and the truth,” according to The Guardian.
CPJ has previously disagreed with IDF intelligence showing that Hamas terrorists have been performing as journalists since October 7, 2023, including alleging that Israel was responsible for more journalist deaths than anyone else in 2024.
Reporters Without Borders (RWB) also denounced Israel's actions, alleging that Shabat was "one of Gaza's best-known journalists" working for Al Jazeera rather than accepting evidence that he was a Hamas terrorist.
RWB has also been critical of Israel's press freedoms in the past, stating in 2023 that "There is a freedom of information law...but it is sometimes hard to implement," when they ranked Israel 97th out of 150 countries whose press freedom was examined.