By Ronny Reyes | New York Post
A Gaza journalist who wrote for Al Jazeera was holding three hostages in his home with his family before he was killed by Israeli commandos during a rescue operation on Saturday, according to the Israeli military.
Abdallah Aljamal, who also worked as a spokesman for the Hamas-run labor ministry, was killed when special forces soldiers stormed his home in central Gaza and rescued hostages Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andri Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, the Israeli military said.
Aljamal’s death was originally reported by Rami Abdu, the head of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, who claimed Israel Defense Forces soldiers raided the journalist’s home and killed him and several members of his family.
The IDF acknowledged that Aljamal was keeping the hostages inside his family home, but made no mention of what happened to his relatives.
“This is further proof that the Hamas terrorist organization uses the civilian population as a human shield,” the IDF said in a statement.
Aljamal had previously written a column for Al Jazeera in 2019.
The Qatar-based outlet said Aljamal was never an employee.
Before his death, Aljamal was contributing to the Palestine Chronicle news outlet, where he wrote a plethora of stories covering the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s offensive.
Many of his recent stories focused on the ongoing IDF operation in Nuseirat, where his own home was located, and where Israeli intelligence had figured out he was holding three of the four hostages rescued on Saturday near a refugee camp.
The Palestine Chronicle is a non-profit organization based in Washington State that works to provide daily news to Gaza.
The outlet claims that its team “consists of professional journalists and respected writers and authors who don’t speak on behalf of any political party or champion any specific political agenda.”
The organization confirmed on Sunday that Aljamal was a contributor reporting on the ground in Gaza, but made no mention that he was holding three hostages.
The outlet did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Many of Aljamal’s recent stories for the Palestinian Chronicle focused on the ongoing IDF operation in Nuseirat, where his own home was located and where Israeli intelligence had figured out he was holding three of the four hostages rescued on Saturday near a refugee camp.
Along with the three men, Israeli forces also rescued Noa Argamani, the 26-year-old Israeli woman who became the terrified face of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on the Jewish state.
Israel touted the rescue as a success, and estimated that there were “under 100” casualties as a result of the raid.
However, the Hamas-run ministry of health alleged that 274 were killed, including civilians.
Both Israeli and American officials have blamed the casualties over Hamas’ tactic of holding hostages and munitions in civilian spaces.
“The Palestinian people are going through sheer hell in this conflict because Hamas is operating in a way that puts them in the crossfire that holds hostages right in the heart of crowded civilian areas, that puts military emplacements right in the heart of crowded civilian areas,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on CNN Sunday.
More than 36,000 people have been killed since the war in Gaza began, according to the Hamas-run ministry of health, which does not differentiate between terrorists and civilians.