Gaza Journalist Employed By Al Jazeera Held 3 Israeli Hostages

The Israeli military said that a journalist from Gaza who wrote for Al Jazeera was killed on Saturday, June 8, by Israeli commandos during a rescue operation.

The journalist was holding three hostages in his home with his family. In addition to being a spokesman for the labour ministry administered by Hamas, Abdallah Aljamal was assassinated when Israeli military special forces assaulted his residence in central Gaza and freed detainees Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andri Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41.

The head of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Rami Abdu, first reported Aljamal’s death. According to Abdu, soldiers from the Israel Defence Forces attacked the journalist’s home, killing Aljamal and many family members.

Although the IDF admitted that Aljamal was holding the captives in his family’s house, it gave no explanation for what had 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.

In 2019, Aljamal had contributed to an Al Jazeera column. Aljamal was never employed, according to the Qatar-based publication.

Aljamal wrote articles about Palestinian killings in Gaza during Israel’s offensive for the Palestine Chronicle news organisation before he passed away.

His own residence was in Nuseirat; Israeli intelligence had determined that he was holding three of the four hostages freed on Saturday near a refugee camp, and this was the subject of several of his recent writings.

Based in Washington State, The Palestine Chronicle is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to giving Gaza access to daily news.

The group did not disclose that Aljamal was holding three captives when it acknowledged on Sunday that he was a correspondent reporting from Gaza.

Israeli forces also saved Noa Argamani, a 26-year-old Israeli woman who turned into the fearful face of the terrorist attack on the Jewish state on October 7th, in addition to the three men.

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli