If you’re reading this, it means I have been killed

Hossam Shabat, a freelance reporter for Al Jazeera, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his car on Salah al-Din Street in northern Gaza, on 24 March 2025. His colleagues posted this statement from him to Twitter. Since then it has been intermittently available there: we preserve it here.

Hossam Shabat

Image © Al Jazeera colleague

“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 months, I have dedicated every moment of my life to my people.

“I documented the horrors in northern Gaza minute by minute, determined to show the world the truth they tried to bury. I slept on pavements, in schools, in tents - anywhere I could. Each day was a battle for survival. I endured hunger for months, yet I never left my people’s side.

“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 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.”

Hossam had good reason to file his obituary early. On 23 October 2024 the Israel Defence Forces accused six journalists, including Hossam, of being members of Hamas or of Palestinian Islamic Jihad - and the New York Times reported the firm denial by the six and by Al Jazeera. They pointed out that this was the IDF getting its justification in early. Hossam had already been injured when a second Israeli airstrike hit a house whose destruction he was reporting.

Remembering fallen colleagues