The IDF has confirmed the elimination of a so-called “journalist” who doubled as a sniper for the Hamas terrorist organization’s Beit Hanoun battalion.
Hossam Basel Abdul Karim Shabat was reporting for the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera news network while operating with Hamas. He was killed near Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, the IDF said.
“In October 2024, the IDF and Shin Bet exposed the terrorist’s direct affiliation with the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization,” the IDF said Tuesday.
“Internal Hamas documents were revealed proving that he participated in military training conducted by the Beit Hanoun Battalion of Hamas in 2019.
“During the war, Hossam carried out terrorist attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians. This is additional proof of Hamas terrorists affiliation to the Al-Jazeera network,” the IDF added.
The Qatari-owned Al Jazeera news network was banned in Israel in May 2024 due to its enmeshment with Gaza terrorist organizations. The network’s transmitters were confiscated, its websites were blocked and its press credentials revoked, although renewal of the ban is required every 90 days.
He was one of six Al Jazeera “journalists” who were found in documents captured by Israeli forces to be members of the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations.
The other five terrorist “journalists” have been identified as Anas al-Sharif, Ala’ Salama, Ashraf al-Sarraj, Ismail Abu Amr and Talal al-Arrouqi.
Two other Al Jazeera terrorist journalists have previously been identified: Mohamed Washah, exposed in February 2024 as a Hamas anti-armor missile systems commander, and Ismail al-Ghoul, exposed in August 2024 as an engineer in the Hamas Gaza City Brigade.
