An endoscopic surgical instrument with an elongate shaft, a surgical tool arranged at a distal end of the shaft for conducting surgical manipulations and a handle arranged at a proximal end of the shaft for actuating the surgical tool. The shaft has an elongate shaft tube and an elongate actuation rod arranged movably within the shaft tube, the tool and the handle both being connected to the shaft tube and the actuating rod such that the tool can be actuated by the handle through a motion of the actuating rod relative to the shaft tube.