Al Jazeera Journalist Killed By Forces In Gaza Was Hamas 'Sniper': Israel

RSF on Tuesday condemned what it called the "targeted Israeli strike" that killed Shabat, "one of Gaza's best-known journalists".

Jerusalem:

Israel on Tuesday said it had killed an Al Jazeera employee in the Gaza Strip, accusing the journalist, Hussam Shabat, of being a "sniper terrorist" for Hamas.

The Qatar-based network said Shabat was killed Monday in an Israeli strike on his vehicle in northern Gaza, in an attack that media watchdog Reporters without Borders (RSF) condemned as part of a "massacre of journalists" in the Palestinian territory.

A joint statement from the Israeli military and Shin Bet internal security agency said that forces had "eliminated... a sniper terrorist from the Beit Hanun Battalion of the Hamas terrorist organisation, who was also employed as a journalist by Al Jazeera".

Gaza's civil defence agency said Shabat was killed when an Israeli drone strike targeted his car on Monday afternoon, near a petrol station in the northern town of Beit Lahia.

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