The Palestinian media and human rights groups call him a well-known journalist killed by Israel commandos.
But Israelis named him as Abdallah Aljamal, a writer for Al Jazeera news organization, who was holding three hostages in his home when the raid occurred, during which Israeli special forces rescued three hostages: Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andri Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41. Aljamal and members of his family were killed in the rescue mission. A fourth hostage was also rescued in the central Gaza raid.
The rescue was a joint rescue operation by the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the Israel Police.
It was a “daring daytime operation, during which they raided two different buildings in the heart of the Gaza Strip and rescued under fire the four hostages who were held by Hamas terrorists,” said IDF Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
“We will continue to do everything in our power to bring back the 120 hostages still held in Gaza. Know that we are determined to reach you as well, and the mission will not be complete until you return home,” he said.
As many as 200 Palestinians, some who were being used as human shields by Hamas, died in the rescue operation.
According to the Palestinian Chronicle, a nonprofit group based in Seattle, said that Aljamal had been a contributor to its media site.
“The Palestine Chronicle is saddened to learn that Abdallah Aljamal, one of its contributors in the Gaza Strip, has been killed in the latest Israeli massacre in the Nuseirat refugee camp,” the group wrote on its website. “Israeli media is linking Aljamal’s family to the Israeli captives, claiming that Abdallah’s father, Dr. Ahmed, and other members of the family, were executed in the process of the bloody rescue mission. Those claims have been refuted by respected commentators and journalists online, who pointed in the inconsistencies in the official Israeli narrative.”
