Hours after his death, a pre-written message from Shabat was published on his X account, in which he said he believed in the Palestinian cause and called on the world to continue to pay attention to the conflict in Gaza.
“If you’re reading this, it means I have been killed,” he wrote. “I risked everything to report the truth, and now, I am finally at rest – something I haven’t known in the past 18 months.”
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The US non-profit Committee to Protect Journalists called for an independent international investigation into whether Shabat and another journalist, Palestine Today worker Mohammed Mansour, were deliberately targeted. Mansour was also killed on Monday alongside his wife and son in a separate Israeli airstrike on their home in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its office in the southern city of Rafah was damaged by an explosive projectile on Monday and while no staff were hurt, the damage had impacted its ability to operate.
The Israeli military said its troops shot at the building after identifying a threat from Palestinian militants. “It was later determined that the identification was false,” the military said, adding that the soldiers didn’t realise the building was being used by the Red Cross.
The Red Cross also said contact had been lost with emergency medical technicians from the Palestine Red Crescent Society on Sunday and their whereabouts remained unknown.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike on a camp housing displaced people in Gaza City.Credit: Bloomberg
In less than a week of air and ground operations since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas, Israeli forces have killed hundreds of people in Gaza – sending the death toll from almost 18 months of war above 50,000.
Israel says it restarted its bombardment and cut off food to Gaza to force Hamas to accept new terms for the ceasefire and release more hostages. It says it targets Hamas members and positions, blaming the group for civilian deaths because it operates among the population.
Hamas-led militants killed about 1200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that ignited the war.
In northern Israel on Monday, one man was killed and a soldier was wounded in a combined ramming, stabbing and shooting attack by a lone assailant at a bus stop, emergency services said. The assailant was shot dead.
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Meanwhile, Egyptian officials said the country had introduced a new proposal to try to get the ceasefire back on track.
Hamas would release five living hostages, including an American-Israeli, in return for Israel allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza and a weeks-long pause in the fighting, an Egyptian official said. Israel would also release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
A Hamas official said the group had “responded positively” to the proposal, without elaborating. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media on the closed-door talks.
Reuters, AP
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