Behind closed doors: How a prominent Gazan family kept three Israeli hostages in secret
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a UNRWA school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, June 6, 2024.
Dr Ahmad Aljamal, a general practitioner, imam, and member of a prominent family in Gaza, secretly held three Israeli hostages captive in his home for six months, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Monday.
Every day Aljamal returned home from work to his son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, and Israeli Hamas captives Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv.
The hostages were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7.
The secret captivity
According to the report, citing local residents, it was an open secret within the Nuseirat camp that Aljamal’s family was associated with Hamas. Ahmad’s brother, Abdelrahman Aljamal, is a Hamas lawyer in Gaza. Nevertheless, the report stated that most did not know of the three hostages held in a dark room in the family’s house.
The IDF reported that the son, Abdullah Aljamal, 37, was a journalist for the Palestinian news site The Palestine Chronicle. Fatma, his wife, was a phlebotomist at a local clinic.
People walk among debris at the area where Israeli hostages were rescued on Saturday in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, June 9, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/Abed Khaled)
People walk among debris at the area where Israeli hostages were rescued on Saturday in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, June 9, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/Abed Khaled)
The hostages later claimed they could hear conversations between the two and the rest of the family as they carried on their normal lives. An earlier WSJ report stated that the three hostages lived in a dark room upstairs in the apartment for six months while the family lived downstairs.
Abdullah had previously served as a spokesperson for the Hamas government and, according to WSJ, was vocally supportive of the October 7 attack.
The building in which the Aljamal family lived was destroyed by an IAF-targeted strike after the rescue of the hostages earlier this month.
The rescue operation, which received significant coverage due to its complex and intricate planning and execution, resulted in the return of the three men as well as Noa Argamani, who was kept separately nearby by another family with Hamas ties, the Abu Nars.
Dr. Aljamal, his son, and his daughter in law were killed in the operation, according to local reports cited by the WSJ, however the children survived.
The Abu Nar family was also reportedly killed, and their building was destroyed.
The IDF did not directly comment on the killing of family members or destruction of buildings, but in a statement, they said they acted to "eliminate terrorists" and "destroy terrorist infrastructure."
According to the report, many locals have paid a visit to the house, surprised by the discovery of the captive Israelis right underneath their noses. The WSJ noted that secrets such as this are hard to keep within such a close-knit community and in a tightly packed area.
The report also claimed that residents were unhappy that Hamas put civilians in danger by housing the hostages in a densely populated area next to a market.
The WSJ reported that locals wished Hamas kept the hostages in tunnels, away from civilians.
“Hamas should give us a map of the safe zones we can stay in because if we knew there were hostages in the neighborhood, we would have looked for another place,” Mustafa Muhammad, 36, told the WSJ. Muhammad fled Gaza City to Nuseirat early in the war.
And these fears were not without basis; Israel's rescue operation resulted in Gazan civilian casualties. The IDF claimed it was less than a hundred, but Gaza's Health Ministry placed estimates in the 200s.
Nevertheless, residents spoke fondly of the Aljamals: “Dr. Ahmad was the one who circumcised my three boys,” said local resident Ali Bkhit to the WSJ.
“When I dealt with him, he was a nice character; his smile never left his face.”