“If you are reading this, it means I have been killed, most likely targeted, by Israeli occupation forces… I have documented the horrors in northern Gaza minute by minute, determined to show the world the truth they have tried to bury… I have fulfilled my duty as a journalist. I have risked everything to report the truth, and now I am finally at rest, something I have not known for 18 months. I have done all this because I believe in the Palestinian cause. I believe this land is ours, and it has been the greatest honor of my life to die defending it and serving its people. I ask you now: do not stop talking about Gaza. Do not let the world look away. Keep fighting, keep telling our stories, until Palestine is free”
“For the last time, Hossam Shabat, from northern Gaza.”
This announcement appeared on Shabat’s Instagram account yesterday.
In two separate attacks in Gaza on Monday, Israel killed two Palestinian journalists, Mohammed Mansour and Hossam Shabat, bringing the total number of media workers killed in the Palestinian territory since October 2023 to 208. Palestine Today correspondent Mohammed Mansour was killed in an airstrike in the Al-Batin area on Monday Al-Sameen, Khan Younis, while Al Jazeera correspondent Mubasher Hossam Shabat was shot in his car on Salah al-Din Street north of the enclave.
“They put his name on a list, made him a target, and hours after we last spoke, they killed him. He was 24 years old… In Gaza, a camera is more dangerous than a gun, a story more menacing than a missile. Hossam knew this and continued reporting anyway. He documented mass graves, charred bodies, the unbearable burden of life under siege. He named the dead, knowing that one day someone might have to do the same for him,” wrote journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin.
A continuous massacre by Israel, which, with proven impunity, strikes before our eyes information workers, as well as those who work as health workers and in education, doctors, teachers and university professors, without any respect for humanitarian and international laws. In a targeted bombing, which hit his home, Manar Abu Khatir, director of Education, and his family were killed in the eastern area of Khan Younis. Doctor Hussam Abu Safyeh is still being held without reason in Israeli prisons. And the director Hamdan Ballal, who just won an Oscar for No Other Land, was the victim of a ferocious raid by settlers, imprisoned and released in the last few hours.
The IDF also launched an airstrike on Sunday on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, one of the largest in the southern Gaza Strip, completely destroying the surgical department, killing at least two people and wounding several staff members. Atef al-Hout, the hospital’s director, confirmed that the airstrike rendered the men’s surgical unit completely non-operational, with 35 beds lost and dozens of injured patients unable to receive treatment. Israel claims that the target of the attack, which was part of a series of raids on the city and surrounding areas, was a Hamas leader, Ismail Barhoum, who was receiving treatment at the facility. The staff and patients certainly paid the highest price, yet another collective punishment against the Palestinian people and a grave violation of international law and norms.
What is certain, however, is that the Palestinians are fed up with Israel, but also with Hamas. Although after October 7, the Palestinian consensus towards Hamas has increased, the movement would still not obtain a majority either in Gaza or in the West Bank. In the past few hours, dozens of residents of Khan Younis have demonstrated, with anti-Hamas slogans such as “Get out of Hamas”. This is the third protest in a few hours. There have also been demonstrations in the camps of Beit Lahya and Jabalia against the continuation of the war and the tragic situation in which Hamas has led them. In these hours the Palestinian Popular Front has asked Hamas to return the administration of Gaza to the legal and legitimate leadership, to return within the framework of the legitimacy of Palestine, represented by the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Al-Fatah.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes have dropped ultimatum leaflets on Gaza, threatening forced evacuation and using aid as a means of blackmail. The leaflets, which also include a quote from the Koran, read that “the map of the world will not change if all the people of Gaza disappear,” and mock regional forces for their failure to intervene. This is what is written, in a war that is also psychological, aimed at breaking the will of a people who constantly face bombing, starvation and siege: “No one will apologize for you and no one will ask you about yourself. You are left alone to face your inevitable fate. Not even Iran can protect itself, as it can protect you. You saw with your own eyes what happened. Neither the United States nor Europe care about Gaza. Not even your Arab countries, who are now our allies, provide us with money, oil and weapons, while they only send you coffins”.
The Ministry of Health has released a 1,516-page document listing the names of over 50,000 Palestinians confirmed to have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. There are a total of 474 pages listing the names of over 15,600 children. The first 27 pages list the ages as 0 – children under 1 year old. The document was shared by journalist Sharif Kouddous on Drop Site News.
All this without anyone trying to stop Israel’s delirium of omnipotence, despite the demonstrations even within the country.
