The Israeli occupation army killed 19-year-old journalist Hassan Hamad in a targeted drone strike at his home in Jabalya refugee camp on Sunday morning.
The young journalist was threatened repeatedly by Israel, which asked him to stop his coverage of the Israeli occupation crimes, especially following the latest incursion into Jabalya.
According to Palestinian journalist Maha Hussaini, Hamad had received threats in the days that led to his death.
“Listen, Ii you continue spreading lies about Israel, we’ll come for you next and turn your family into (…) This is your last warning”, was the message Hamad received via WhatsApp, as conveyed by Hussaini on X.
Hussaini confirmed that the young journalist also received “several calls from an Israeli officer ordering him to stop filming in Gaza.”
“He didn’t comply. He was killed today,” Hussaini wrote on X.
A colleague confirmed the assassination on Hamad’s X account.
“With deep sorrow and pain, I mourn the journalist Hassan Hamad. I testify before God that you fulfilled your duty,” Hamad’s colleague wrote.
Hamad’s Journey
The post went on to highlight the journey of the young journalist and the challenges he had to go through to keep bringing the truth to the world.
“Hassan Hamad, the journalist who did not live past the age of 20, resisted for a full year in his own way,” the post read.
“He resisted by staying away from his family so they wouldn’t be targeted. He resisted when he struggled to find an internet signal, sitting for an hour or two on the rooftop just to send the videos that reach you in seconds,” it added.
“Yesterday, from 10 PM, he moved between the bombed locations and then returned to search for an internet signal, only to go back and cover the scenes of the scattered remains. He endured the pain of an injury to his leg, yet continued filming.”
Hamad’s colleague concluded by depicting the last moments of the slain journalist.
“At 6 AM, he called me to send his last video. After a call that didn’t last more than a few seconds, he said, “There they are, there they are, it’s done,” and hung up. It’s a feeling no human can bear,” the statement said.
“Hassan also resisted the occupation, leaving behind a mark and a message that we will carry on after him. We belong to God, and to Him we shall return,” Hamad’s colleague ended by saying.
Graphic footage on social media of Hamad’s remains in a shoebox has sparked wide indignation and anger amongst activists in the virtual world who denounced the targeted assassination of the young journalist.
Systematic Killing of Journalists
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) said last week that the Israeli occupation army committed in September 185 violations against Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, Anadolu news agency reported.
The syndicate revealed in a statement that in September alone, the Israeli occupation army killed two journalists in Gaza, and injured nine others by live bullets in the West Bank.
The media group reported that five journalists were detained in the occupied West Bank while 10 cases of forced entry were registered into various media bureaus and homes of journalists.
Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip have been systematically targeted by the Israeli occupation army during the raging war.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war against the Gaza Strip, a total of 175 Palestinian journalists have been killed, and more than 190 others have been injured, while 87 media institutions have been destroyed, according to the Health Ministry in the Strip.
Gaza Genocide Continues
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,870 Palestinians have been killed, and 97,166 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.