The Israeli military said the three rescued hostages were being held at the home of a Hamas member
After Israel rescued four hostages in Gaza on Saturday, the Israeli military said three of them were held at the home of a Hamas member, suggesting the armed group was using civilian homes as cover. secure your activities.
Israeli special forces, supported by the army, intelligence and air force, raided two buildings in a neighborhood in Nuseirat, a refugee camp in central Gaza on Saturday, rescuing Almog Meir Jan , 22 years old; Andrey Kozlov, 27 years old; and Shlomi Ziv, 41, from Abdallah Aljamal’s home, the military said. A fourth hostage, Noa Argamani, 26, was also freed from a nearby building.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 274 people were killed in the raid. The Israeli military said the death toll was less than 100. Neither the Israeli military nor Palestinian health officials provided details about the civilians and fighters killed in the raid.
Mr. Aljamal’s death was confirmed on Sunday by the Gaza Government Communications Office, which said he had worked for the Hamas-affiliated news agency Palestine Now.
On Sunday, the Israeli army said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app: “The hostages were taken by Abdallah Aljamal and his family members at their home. This is more evidence about the terrorist organization Hamas intentionally using homes and civilian buildings to detain Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli military has for months claimed that civilian casualties in Gaza were inevitable because Hamas hid its forces among the population.
However, the Israeli military appeared to back down on Monday from its position a day earlier on platform X, formerly Twitter, which implied that Mr. One journalist for Al Jazeera, an influential news organization based in Qatar.
In that post, the military posted what appeared to be a screenshot of a photo and brief biography of Mr. Aljamal on the news organization’s website. “No press kit can make him innocent of the crimes he committed,” the post said, adding, “Al Jazeera: what is this terrorist doing on your website.”
Al Jazeera denied the allegations on Sunday, saying “these allegations are completely baseless” and that Mr. Aljamal “never worked” for the network. Rather, it is said that he contributed to an editorial in 2019. When searching for his byline on Al Jazeera’s website, you’ll see a co-written opinion piece since January of that year, collected statements from six Palestinians who had been detained in Israeli prisons. News organizations frequently publish opinion pieces from contributors who are not on the payroll and have no contractual relationship with them.
Al Jazeera is the main news source in the Arab world and has highlighted the suffering of people in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused it of harming Israel’s security and inciting violence against its soldiers. The news organization has been temporarily banned from operating in Israel since May 5 – an unusual step that critics condemned as anti-democratic and part of a broader crackdown on dissidents of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The 35-day ban on Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel is extended for another 45 days last Wednesday, after the Israeli cabinet agreed that Al Jazeera broadcasts posed a threat to security.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it had no comment on Al Jazeera’s rebuttal, referring a Times reporter back to its Sunday Telegram post, which identified Mr. just a member of Hamas. However, Israel’s Foreign Ministry continued to amplify accusations that he was linked to Al Jazeera, republishing on Monday a report by The New York Post that cited the military’s Sunday post on X.
It could not be independently determined whether hostages were held at Mr. Aljamal’s home and, if so, under what circumstances.
Given that Abdallah Aljamal is a relatively common name in Gaza, it is impossible to be certain that the writer of this editorial is the same person whose hometown the Israeli military says was used to detain children. believe it or not.
According to one preliminary estimate According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 100 journalists and media workers were killed in Israel’s operation in Gaza, which began on October 7 when Hamas launched an attack on Israel. They called it an unprecedented loss for Palestinian journalists.
Israeli officials say they believe some of those journalists are also members of Hamas, an assertion intended to cast doubt on the neutrality of some reporting by Palestinian journalists. Because Foreign press is prohibited from entering this area In addition to special missions closely monitored by the military, Palestinian journalists have become important sources of information on the prosecution of the war and its impact on civilians.
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