GAZA CITY (AFP) – An Israeli air strike killed a journalist working with Al Jazeera and the military issued fresh calls to evacuate parts of Gaza’s north, as Israel pressed its renewed bombardment and ground operations in the Palestinian territory.
Israel resumed intense air strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, followed by ground operations, after talks on extending a ceasefire with the Palestinian group Hamas reached an impasse.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued “an early warning before a strike” in the northern area of Jabalia.
“Terrorist organisations are once again returning to and firing rockets from populated areas… For your safety, head south toward the known shelters immediately,” Adraee said on X, after issuing similar warnings for the northern towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.
Earlier, Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli drone strike on Monday afternoon killed Hussam Shabat, who was working with Al Jazeera, near a petrol station in Beit Lahia.
Spokesman for the agency Mahmud Bassal said air strikes had targeted more than 10 cars, including Shabat’s, in various parts of Gaza.
“Hussam Shabat, a journalist collaborating with Al Jazeera Mubasher, was martyred in an Israeli strike targeting his car in the northern Gaza Strip,” an alert from the Qatari broadcaster said, referring to its live Arabic channel.
AFPTV footage from the scene in Beit Lahia showed Palestinians gathering around the car, which had an Al Jazeera sticker on its windscreen. A body could be seen on the ground nearby.
According to the United States-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel’s military in October accused Shabat and five other Palestinian journalists of being militants, which he denied.
Hundreds of people attended Shabat’s funeral held at Beit Lahia’s Indonesian Hospital, praying over his body, which still wore a press flak jacket.
The civil defence agency said a media worker from Palestine Today TV, Muhammad Mansour, was killed in a separate air strike in Gaza’s south.
In a statement, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called the deaths of Shabat and Mansour “a crime added to the record of Israeli terrorism”.
It said that more than 206 journalists and media workers had been killed since the start of the war, which was triggered by an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Health Ministry said that 730 people had been killed since Israel resumed bombardments on March 18, including 57 in the past 24 hours.
Militants also seized 251 hostages on October 7, 58 of whom are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military said are dead.
