Three rescued Israeli hostages were being held by Gaza journalist: Reporter filed stories on IDF ‘genocide’ and ‘massacres’ while he and his wife held three captives

A Palestinian journalist was hiding Israeli hostages at his home for Hamas, Israel has said, before they were rescued in an IDF raid on Saturday.

The Israeli army said that Abdullah al-Jamal was keeping Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, at his family home in Gaza.

IDF commandos stormed the building on Saturday by ladder, freeing the hostages while killing Abdullah, his father – Dr Ahmed, and his wife Fatima in the process. His daughter and other family members are also reported to have been injured.

The IDF went on to accuse Abdullah of holding the hostages in his home along with his family members, and said it was further proof that the Hamas terror group was using Gaza’s civilian population as ‘human shields’.

Abdullah wrote for Palestine Chronicle – a US-based non profit news website, as a freelancer, and once contributed to an Op-ed in 2019 published by Al Jazeera – the Qatar-based news network which has been temporarily banned in Israel.

The Israeli army said that Palestinian journalist Abdullah al-Jamal (pictured) was keeping Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, at his family home in Gaza.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the IDF addressed Al Jazeera and asked ‘what’s this terrorist doing on your website?’ 

‘Abdallah’s home held hostages, along with his family members,’ the IDF said, adding: ‘This is further proof that the terrorist organisation Hamas uses the civilian population as a human shield.’

Abdullah had written a number of articles since Hamas’s attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people in Israel and taking 250 people back into Gaza as hostages.

Article written by Abdullah and published on the Palestine Chronicle had titles included ‘Resistance our only option – Palestinians react to news of Israeli soldiers captured in Jabaliya’, ’31 Martyrs in a single Israeli strike – Voices from the Gaza Genocide’ and ‘Testimonies from ‘Camp 2′ massacre in Nuseirat’.

However, the IDF’s claims have been questioned by some on social media.

Muhammad Shehada, the chief of comms for Euro-Med Monitor (a Geneva-based rights organisation), said Abdullah lived in a multi-storey building, and that he lived in one of seven homes raided by the IDF.

Hostages were found in two of those, he said.

He also pointed out that Israel’s official X account had previously said that Noa Argamani, 26 – the fourth Israeli hostage rescued in the raids – was being held in the journalists’s house, before this was later changed to say it was in fact the three men.

Al Jazeera, meanwhile, denied that it employed Abdullah, pointing out that he contributed to the one Op-ed in 2019, and accused Israel of ‘slander and misinformation’.

‘Al Jazeera Media Network confirms that Abdullah Al-Jamal has never worked with the Network, but had contributed to an Op-ed in 2019 and that these allegations are completely unfounded,’ Al Jazeera wrote on X.

It added: ‘The Network also stresses that these allegations are a continuation of the process of slander and misinformation aimed at harming Al Jazeera’s reputation, professionalism, and independence.

‘It calls for accuracy before publishing any of these allegations, the repetition of which has become ridiculous. Al Jazeera Media Network reserves all its legal rights to refute all these allegations.’

A biography on Al Jazeera’s website for Abdullah describes him as ‘a Gaza based reporter and photojournalist. He often reports from the ongoing ‘March of Return’ protests at the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel’.

The Palestine Chronicle ran a news story on Abdullah’s death, saying he had been ‘murdered’ in the IDF’s Gaza raid.

It described him as a freelancer who contributed to the platform. 

Almong Meir Jan, 22, is seen crying as he is greeted by his close relatives at the Sheba Tel-HaShomer Medical Centre, after his rescue from the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army on Saturday

Shlomi Ziv, 41, who was captured while serving as a security guard at the festival, was seen hugging and kissing his loves ones and in a tearful reunion at the hospital on Saturday. His sister Revital Nasi and cousin Liat met him at the hospital

Andrey Kozlov, 27, had been working as a security guard at the music festival after immigrating from Russia to Israel alone a year and a half earlier. He is seen crying at the hospital as he connects with his loved ones via telephone

Noa Argamani, 26, (pictured) was the fourth hostage to be rescued in Saturday’s raid

‘Abdallah Aljamal’s reports have focused entirely on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, especially in the central part of the Strip, starting shortly after the war,’ the Palestine Chronicle said in a statement published in its article. 

‘His contributions became frequent when Israel deliberately began killing journalists, making it nearly impossible for the Palestinian voice to break away from the Gaza siege,’ the statement added.

Euro-Med Monitor released details on a preliminary investigation into the raid. 

‘In a preliminary investigation into the field executions by the Israeli army at the Nusseirat refugee camp yesterday, @EuroMedHR stated that soldiers used a ladder to break through the residence of Dr. Ahmed Al-Jamal,’ group said.

‘Upon encountering 36-year-old Fatima Al-Jamal on the staircase, they immediately shot her dead. The troops then stormed the house and executed her husband, 36-year-old journalist Abdullah Al-Jamal, and his father, 74-year-old Dr. Ahmed Al-Jamal, in front of his grandchildren. Additionally, their 27-year-old daughter, Zainab, was shot and seriously injured,’ it added.

Jan, Kozlov and Ziv – along with Argamani – had all been abducted from the Nova music festival during Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war.

Many Israelis shed tears of joy when they heard of the release of the four captives, all reported in good health. 

But the rescue operation resulted in the death of dozens – if not hundreds – of Palestinians in the area at the time of the raid. 

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 274 people were killed and 698 wounded, in what it labelled the ‘Nuseirat massacre’. Among those were at least 64 children, 57 women and 37 elderly people, the ministry said.

These figures that could not be independently verified.

Israel has said the number of fatalities was lower than the ministry’s total. 

The Israeli military said the extraction team and the four rescued captives came under heavy gun and grenade fire by militants, who killed one police officer, while Israel’s air force launched strikes that reduced nearby buildings to rubble.

The killing of so many Palestinians, in a raid that Israelis celebrated as a stunning success, showed the heavy cost of such operations on top of the already soaring toll of the 8-month-old war ignited by Hamas’ October 7 attack.

The Israeli bombing was ‘hell,’ witness Mohamed al-Habash told The Associated Press. ‘We saw many fighter jets flying over the area. We saw people fleeing in the streets. Women and children were screaming and crying.’

The operation in Nuseirat, a built-up refugee camp dating to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, was the largest rescue since October 7.

People walk among debris in the aftermath of Israeli strikes during the rescue raid, June 9

Men walk among the rubble of buildings destroyed in the rescue mission to free Israeli hostages who were taken into Gaza on October 7

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 274 people were killed and 698 wounded, in what it labelled the ‘Nuseirat massacre’. Among those were at least 64 children, 57 women and 37 elderly people, the ministry said

Israel’s massive offensive has killed over 36,700 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

Saturday’s events also affected fragile attempts to deliver aid. The World Food Program chief said they suspended distribution around a US-built pier off Gaza because ‘two of our warehouses, warehouse complex, were rocketed yesterday.’

When asked how it happened and whether WFP shares its locations with Israel’s military, Cindy McCain said they did and ‘I don’t know. It’s a good question.’ It wasn’t clear if she was referring to the rescue operation.

In Gaza, medics described scenes of chaos after the raid. Overwhelmed hospitals were already struggling to treat the wounded from days of heavy Israeli strikes.

‘We had the gamut of war wounds, trauma wounds, from amputations to eviscerations to trauma, to TBIs (traumatic brain injuries), fractures and, obviously, big burns,’ said Karin Huster of Doctors Without Borders, which works in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. ‘Kids completely gray or white from the shock, burnt, screaming for their parents. Many of them are not screaming because they are in shock.’

The Israeli military said it had attacked ‘threats to our forces in the area,’ and that a special forces officer was killed in the operation. 

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz lashed out at critics of the operation in a post on X, saying ‘only Israel’s enemies complained about the casualties of Hamas terrorists and their accomplices.’

Israeli media have focused heavily on the Israeli toll, the hostages and military efforts with relatively little coverage of the situation for Palestinians inside Gaza.

Israelis continued to celebrate the return of Argamani, Jan, Kozlov and Ziv as they  were reunited with loved ones.

Argamani’s mother, Liora, who has late-stage brain cancer, had released a video pleading to see her. Argamani’s father told Army Radio the reunion was ‘very difficult’ as Liora was ‘just unable to express her feelings and could not say what she was really waiting to say.’

Meir Jan’s aunt, Dina, said his father had died Friday, hours before the operation. ‘My brother died of grief,’ she told Israel’s Kan public broadcaster.

Dr. Itai Pessach at Sheba Hospital said none had serious physical injuries. But they have lost friends and family, and staff ‘have been assisting them in rebuilding the infrastructure of their life,’ he told reporters.

About 120 hostages remain in Gaza, with 43 pronounced dead, after about half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November. Israeli troops have recovered the bodies of at least 16, according to the government. Survivors include about 15 women, two children under 5 and two men in their 80s.

Scores of hostages are believed to be held in densely populated areas or inside Hamas’ labyrinth of tunnels, making rescues complex and risky. A raid in February freed two hostages while leaving 74 Palestinians dead.

Israel’s military has acknowledged it can’t carry out operations to rescue everyone.

Divisions have deepened in Israel over the best way to bring hostages home. 

Many urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to embrace a cease-fire deal US President Joe Biden announced last month, but far-right allies threaten to collapse his government if he does.

Hours after the rescue, thousands of Israelis again gathered to protest the government and call for a deal.

On Sunday, Benny Gantz, a popular centrist member of Israel’s three-member war Cabinet, resigned from the government after challenging it to adopt a new plan for the war. The resignation makes Netanyahu more heavily reliant on his far-right allies.

Also Sunday, the commander of the Israeli military’s Gaza division resigned over failures that led to the October 7 attack.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East this week, seeking a breakthrough in cease-fire efforts. 

The IDF has released images of the Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant (in black) approving the operation to rescue the hostages together with top military chiefs

A view of Israeli helicopter, carrying four Israeli hostages that were retrieved after a military operation in the area

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN that mediators Egypt and Qatar had not received official word from Hamas on the proposed deal.

In a separate interview with CBS, Sullivan didn’t say whether Biden would meet Netanyahu when he comes to Washington next month to address Congress.

International pressure is mounting on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza. Palestinians also face widespread hunger because fighting and Israeli restrictions have largely cut off the flow of aid.

‘They killed everything inside us,’ said one Nuseirat resident who witnessed Saturday’s assault. The woman, identified only as Mounira in a video shared by the UN on Sunday, urged a cease-fire.