The Wall Street Journal revealed Monday details of the notable Gaza family who held three of the four hostages rescued by the IDF on June 8 hostage in their home.
According to the daily, 73-year-old physician Ahmad Al Jamal and his son, journalist Abdullah Al Jamal, were hiding Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv in a small room in their Nuseirat apartment. Meir Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv were abducted from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking some 250 captive.
To the outside world, Ahmad was a respected community figure – a doctor at a public clinic, an imam known for his beautiful Quran recitations, and the head of a family with ties to Hamas. However, behind closed doors, the Al Jamal apartment had become a prison for hostages.
According to local residents interviewed by the WSJ, Ahmad went about his regular routines of work and worship while his son Abdullah and daughter-in-law Fatma guarded the hostages in the darkened room. The captives could hear the family's daily activities from their locked quarters.
The Al Jamal home – along with another building nearby where hostage Noa Argamani was held by another family with Hamas links – was destroyed after the IDF rescue operation that included a dramatic commando raid to extract the four hostages, which turned into fierce fighting with Hamas terrorists. Ahmad, Abdullah, and Fatma were killed in the operation, though their children are said to have survived.
Hamas was condemned for recklessly endangering civilians by housing captives in a densely population neighborhood without their knowledge, while some suspect those living nearby might have been aware of the hostages being held in the vicinity.
According to the WSJ, the Al Jamals were deeply involved with Hamas. Ahmad's brother is a Hamas lawmaker, while Abdullah openly supported the Oct. 7 massacre. Yet they were also respected community members – the doctor who circumcised local boys, the imam with the beautiful voice.
While Hamas' indiscriminate use of human shields is well-documented, the hostage crisis has revealed a new depth of depravity in embedding captives within civilian homes and neighborhoods.
