Israel on Tuesday announced the elimination of Hossam Basel Abdul Karim Shabat, a sniper from Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion who was also employed as a journalist by the Qatari news organization Al Jazeera.
According to a joint Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) statement, Shabat’s affiliation with Hamas’s military wing was exposed in October 2024 through internal documents proving his participation in military training in 2019.
Over 6 months ago, Hossam Basel Abdul Karim Shabat’s role within the Hamas terrorist organization was exposed by us here on @X. He carried out all of his actions under the cover of an @AlJazeera journalist. Yesterday, he was eliminated by the IDF.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 25, 2025
Don’t let the press vest… https://t.co/5Y2x40DdnI pic.twitter.com/gVn5NVsOVa
During the ongoing war, he carried out attacks against IDF forces and Israeli civilians, according to the military.
The IDF and Shin Bet cited this as further evidence of Hamas operatives working within Al Jazeera. They reaffirmed their commitment to targeting Hamas terrorists and safeguarding Israeli citizens.
On Oct. 25, 2024, the IDF disclosed documents exposing six Al Jazeera journalists, including Shabat, as Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.
The other five journalists are Anas Jamal Mahmoud al-Sharif, Alaa Abdul Aziz Muhammad Salama, Ashraf Sami Ashour Saraj, Ismail Farid Muhammad Abu Omar and Talal Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Aruki.
Israelis are suing the Al Jazeera network over its coverage of the terrorist group and the massacre it led on Oct 7, 2023. The lawsuit was filed to the federal court in Washington in February by dozens of Oct. 7 victims, including Morris Schneider, the uncle of Shiri Bibas, who was murdered in Hamas captivity along with her two children, Kfir and Ariel.
