Al Jazeera Anger at Claim Hostages Held by One of Its Journos

Israel has claimed three hostages freed during a rescue operation at the weekend had been held captive by a journalist from Al Jazeera.

In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces claimed hostages Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv were held by journalist Abdallah Aljamal at his home in Gaza. The IDF wrote on social media: “‘Journalist’ Abdallah Aljamal was a Hamas terrorist holding Almog, Andrey and Shlomi hostage in his family’s home in Nuseirat. No press vest can make him innocent of the crimes he has committed. @AlJazeera what’s this terrorist doing on your website?”

Aljamal is believed to have been killed during the rescue operation. Al Jazeera dismissed the allegation as “completely unfounded” and “a continuation of the process of slander and misinformation aimed at harming Al Jazeera’s reputation, professionalism and independence”. The network said Aljamal never worked for it but had once contributed to an opinion article published on its website.