The story of journalist Hossam Shabat

The story of journalists — their experiences and firsthand testimonies during the war.
The laws of “Freedom of the Press” failed to provide protection... In Gaza, the price of truth is paid in blood.
While the world celebrates World Press Freedom Day, journalists in the Gaza Strip are paying the price of media coverage in blood. They face immense risks and countless challenges as they cover a war of genocide that has not spared them from death. The laws that once guaranteed freedom of the press no longer ensure their protection in reality, turning those slogans into empty words with no substance on the ground.
Despite the large number of journalists martyred in Gaza, not a single one has backed down from reporting or abandoned the field, as the occupation had hoped. Among them was journalist Hussam Shabat, who worked as a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher in northern Gaza — a model of professional coverage, courage, and heroism in the face of the serious threats he had received from the Israeli intelligence before his direct targeting.
Until his final hours, his younger brother Wisam accompanied him, as he did in most of their coverage. Yet, for that particular assignment, Hussam asked him not to come along, explaining, “If something happens, let one of us go, not both.” Every night, the two brothers slept in separate locations to avoid being killed together in case journalists’ tents were targeted.
Not long after, the sound of an airstrike echoed through the area, and reports began to spread about civilian casualties. Wisam rushed out with his camera to document the scene. When he arrived, he began filming a wounded child — until he noticed his brother’s car parked nearby. Thinking Hussam was filming there, he approached to help him, only to find the most painful scene of his life.
He recounts to Palestine Newspaper with a broken heart:
“I took a few steps forward and found my brother lying on the ground, covered in blood. It was the greatest shock of my life, one that still haunts me every night. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it — it feels like a nightmare I live with constantly. We went out to cover the news and became the story ourselves.”
There was hardly an event in northern Gaza that did not bear Hussam’s signature — his name marked every photo and video. His voice still echoes in his brother’s memory:
“He was so passionate about the work. He used to tell me, ‘Don’t you dare be afraid or skip the coverage! Life is one — we have to go.’ He would move constantly between northern and central Gaza to report.”
Hussam faced many dangers during his work. In one incident, the house he was covering was bombed a second time while he was still on site, leaving him with lasting pain that he continued to treat until his martyrdom. On another occasion, an Israeli drone (quad-copter) opened fire on him and chased him.
Just hours before a ceasefire was announced, the Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee called him directly, threatening:
“Get ready. You don’t want to calm down and stop filming?”
Fearing for his life, Hussam left his car and went to the Baptist Hospital, afraid of being targeted in those final hours before the truce.