GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, March 25, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - An Israeli air
strike killed a journalist working with Al Jazeera on Monday and the military
issued fresh calls to evacuate parts of Gaza's north, as Israel pressed its
renewed bombardment and ground operations in the Palestinian territory.

Israel resumed intense air strikes across Gaza last Tuesday, followed by
ground operations, after talks on extending a ceasefire with the Palestinian
militant group Hamas reached an impasse.

On Monday evening, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued "an early
warning before a strike" in the northern area of Jabalia.

"Terrorist organizations are once again returning to and firing rockets from
populated areas... For your safety, head south toward the known shelters
immediately," Adraee said on X, after issuing similar warnings for the
northern towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.

Earlier, Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli drone strike on Monday
afternoon killed Hussam Shabat, who was working with Al Jazeera, near a
petrol station in Beit Lahia.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency, said air strikes had targeted more
than 10 cars, including Shabat's, in various parts of Gaza.

"Hussam Shabat, a journalist collaborating with Al Jazeera Mubasher, was
martyred in an Israeli strike targeting his car in the northern Gaza Strip,"
an alert from the Qatari broadcaster said, referring to its live Arabic
channel.

AFPTV footage from the scene in Beit Lahia showed Palestinians gathering
around the car, which had an Al Jazeera sticker on its windscreen. A body
could be seen on the ground nearby.

According to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel's military
in October accused Shabat and five other Palestinian journalists of being
militants, which he denied.

Hundreds of people attended Shabat's funeral held at Beit Lahia's Indonesian
Hospital, praying over his body, which still wore a press flak jacket.

The civil defence agency said a media worker from Islamic Jihad-affiliated
Palestine Today TV, Muhammad Mansour, was killed in a separate air strike in
Gaza's south.

In a statement, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called the deaths of
Shabat and Mansour "a crime added to the record of Israeli terrorism".

It said that more than 206 journalists and media workers had been killed
since the start of the war, which was triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel
on October 7, 2023.

- 'Imagine this is your son' -

The October 7 attack resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to
Israeli figures, while Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least
50,082 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run
territory's health ministry.

The health ministry said Monday that 730 people had been killed since Israel
resumed bombardments on March 18, including 57 in the past 24 hours.

Militants also seized 251 hostages on October 7, 58 of whom are still in
Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas's armed wing released a video on Monday showing two Israeli hostages --

identified by AFP as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana -- describing the
danger they have faced since the resumption of intense Israeli strikes.

Bohbot's family reacted to the video with a statement appealing to Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump to secure the
remaining hostages' release.

"Imagine this is your son, the father of your grandchild, waiting to see
daylight, hearing (Israeli army) bombs, and living in constant fear for his
life," the statement said.

- Civilians 'trapped' -

Israel's military said it intercepted a total of three "projectiles" launched
from the Gaza Strip on Monday evening. Both Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad
said they had launched rockets towards Israel.

The military also said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the
sixth since the resumption of Gaza hostilities.

The Huthis later claimed responsiblity for two missiles, saying they would
"target the heartland of the occupying entity until the aggression stops and
the siege on the Gaza Strip is lifted".

The Huthi news agency Saba late Monday reported 12 US airstrikes "in the last
few hours" in northwest Yemen.

The Israel military said Tuesday it had again struck two military bases in
central Syria, a day after the European Union's foreign policy chief warned
strikes there and in Lebanon risked escalation.

"A short while ago, the IDF struck military capabilities that remained at the
Syrian military bases of Tadmur and T4," the Israeli military said, referring
to bases in Palmyra and another 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the city.

On Monday during a visit to Jersalem, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas
warned that Israeli strikes on Syria and Lebanon were threatening to worsen
the situation.

"Military actions must be proportionate, and Israeli strikes into Syria and
Lebanon risk further escalation," Kallas said.

Meanwhile, the municipality of the southern Gaza city of Rafah said in a
statement Monday that "thousands of civilians" were "trapped under intense
Israeli shelling" in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood.

It added that all communications were cut with the neighbourhood, and that
the local health care system had "entirely collapsed".

On Sunday the military said it had encircled Tal al-Sultan to "dismantle
terrorist infrastructure and eliminate" militants there.

The defence ministry also announced the creation of an administration
dedicated to the "voluntary departure of Gaza residents to a third country",
drawing outrage from Egypt.

Egypt, which borders Gaza and Israel, expressed "its strong condemnation" of
the creation of this authority, the foreign ministry said on X.