Israeli strike on Jabalia kills teenage Gaza journalist Hassan Hamad

Tributes have poured in for Gaza journalist Hassan Hamad, who was killed in an Israeli air strike which struck his home in the Jabalia refugee camp, north Gaza.

Hamad was killed during heavy Israeli bombardment and besiegement of Jabalia, while Israeli forces continued strikes on other areas including Rafah and Al-Zawaida.

Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza last year, Hamad has been documenting Israeli aggression on the Strip and how people have been affected by bombardment, siege and a lack of resources.

According to multiple accounts, his body was found blown to pieces and had to be gathered in a box.

A post on his X account posted by a friend of him confirmed his death.

"With great sadness and pain, I mourn the journalist Hassan Hammad…the journalist who was not yet 20 years old, resisted for a whole year in his own special way, and stayed on his own, away from family so they would not be targeted" the post read.

"He resisted while trying to find internet signal and would sit for hours on the roof of his home to publish videos. Yesterday, from 10pm, he was travelling between bombed areas and returning home to get internet signal then going back to cover what had remained from the bombing," it continued.

The post also stated that Hamad had sustained an injury to his leg, but continued documenting Israeli assaults, with the last video being sent at 6am on Sunday.

"After a call that did not exceed a few seconds, he was saying ‘hey, hey, it’s done’ and hung up. This is a feeling that no human being can bear" the post written by his friend says.

In one of his last posts, Hamad writes that a house was bombed near an intersection in Jabalia camp, with six people killed according to initial reports, including a man who had only been married for one week.

Over the last week, he had also reported on Israeli strikes on Beit Lahia, stating that four children were pulled out alive from under the rubble while others remain trapped there and that Israeli forces had targeted a football stadium where thousands of displaced families are sheltering.

On Friday, Hamad said that he and fellow journalist Moamen Abu Awda survived quadcopter shots in the vicinity of the Al-Muqaid in the centre of the Jabalia camp.

According to Euro-Med Monitor journalist Maha Hussaini, Hamad had reportedly received threatening calls and text messages from an Israeli officer days ago, stating that if he didn’t stop filming and documenting what was happing in Gaza, he and his family would be targeted.

Dozens of people mourned his loss on social media sites, with one person saying “he sacrificed everything to bring us these stories. I honour Hassan and all the journalists killed in Gaza."

"Hassan was reporting about Israel’s horrifying massacres in the north of Gaza overnight, only to become the reported story too" another wrote.

Israel’s war on Gaza, approaching the one-year mark, has killed at least 41,870 Palestinians and wounded over 91,166 others. The bombardment has levelled entire neighbourhoods and plunged the Strip into a deep humanitarian crisis.