The Hidden Lives of Gaza Well to Do Family: Dark Secrets

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“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,”

 

To the outside world, Ahmad Al-Jamal was a respected 73-year-old general practitioner and imam in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Nuseirat. He was a community fixture, working mornings at a public clinic and afternoons at his small private clinic, performing procedures such as circumcisions. At the local mosque, he was known for his beautiful voice reciting the Quran. However, behind the facade of his normal life lay a dark secret: for several months, Al-Jamal's apartment was a prison for three Israeli hostages hidden there for Hamas.

 

 

It was widely known in Nuseirat that the Al-Jamal family had close ties to Hamas, but few in the densely populated central Gaza area were aware of the secret held within the walls of their small, darkened apartment. According to the hostages and Israeli security forces, their captors included Al-Jamal’s son, 37-year-old Palestinian journalist Abdullah Al-Jamal. From their locked and guarded room, the hostages could hear Abdullah, his wife Fatma, a phlebotomist, and their children living their daily lives in the same apartment.

 

 

This hidden captivity came to a violent end when Israeli commandos, acting on intelligence, raided the apartment, extracted the hostages, and destroyed the building with an airstrike. Local residents confirmed that Ahmad, Abdullah, and Fatma were killed in the operation. The Al-Jamal children survived the raid, according to a next-door neighbor.

 

Just a few blocks away, another family with Hamas connections, the Abu Nar family, was holding Noa Argamani, a well-known hostage taken during the Nova festival on October 7. Her kidnapping was widely seen on video. The Abu Nar family was also killed in an Israeli operation, and their building was destroyed. Local residents mentioned that this family was less prominent in the neighborhood compared to the Al-Jamals.

 

 

Surviving members of the Al-Jamal family either declined to comment or couldn’t be reached. The Israeli military’s operation in Nuseirat on June 8, aimed at rescuing the hostages, led to heavy casualties among Palestinians due to intense fighting. Israeli military sources stated that the special forces eliminated armed Hamas militants guarding the hostages but did not specify whether family members encountered were also killed. The military did not comment on the destruction of the buildings.

 

The site where the Al-Jamal family once lived has since become a place of morbid curiosity, attracting locals eager to see where the hostages had been held. The rescue operation, marked by fierce combat and heavy airstrikes, has sparked discussions among local residents about the wisdom of Hamas holding hostages in residential areas. Some were surprised, given the difficulty of keeping secrets in the densely built neighborhood where even a cough can be heard through the concrete walls.

 

 

Others expressed anger at Hamas for putting civilians in danger, with some suggesting that hostages should have been held in tunnels or returned to Israel to negotiate a ceasefire. Mustafa Muhammad, a 36-year-old who fled from Gaza City to Nuseirat with his family, criticized Hamas for endangering 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," he said. Muhammad and his family found themselves trapped with nowhere safe to go during the raid.

 

While some hostages have been kept in tunnels, many have been held in apartments, likely reflecting the difficulty of moving so many captives in an active war zone. Ahmad and Abdullah Al-Jamal belonged to an extended family with several ties to Hamas. Ahmad’s brother, Abdelrahman Al-Jamal, is a Hamas lawmaker in Gaza’s legislative council. Abdullah, a freelance contributor to the Palestine Chronicle, also worked for the Hamas-run news agency Palestine Now and served as a spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Labor. He openly supported the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians. "Praise be to God…Oh God, guide us…Oh God, grant us the victory you promised," Abdullah posted on Facebook that day.

 

The Palestine Chronicle expressed sadness over Abdullah’s death and denied his involvement in holding Israeli hostages. The Al-Jamal family was well-regarded in Nuseirat, a refugee camp that has grown into a dense urban area since its establishment after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Ahmad was seen frequently during the war, continuing his routine between his clinic, the mosque, and buying groceries. Abdullah, however, was rarely seen, according to neighbors. Ali Bkhit, a social-media consultant from the neighborhood, recalled Ahmad Al-Jamal’s role in his community. "Dr. Ahmad was the one who circumcised my three boys," Bkhit said. "When I dealt with him, he was a nice character; his smile never left his face." Bkhit also remembered Ahmad’s voice reciting the Quran at the local Al-Farouk Mosque, describing it as beautiful and admired by many. He was shocked to learn about the hostages, not expecting the family to be so involved in Hamas’s conflict with Israel.

 

Israeli intelligence discovered the hostages' location in May, leading special forces to practice the rescue mission on models of the two apartment blocks for weeks. The return of the hostages to Israel was a moment of rare joy amidst a grim war that continues with the goal of destroying Hamas and rescuing the remaining hostages. The rescue operation in Nuseirat led to severe bombardment and intense ground combat, causing significant casualties. Palestinian health authorities reported 274 deaths and nearly 700 injuries, while Israeli military figures cited around 100 casualties, including militants and civilians. These numbers have not been independently verified. Rescue team leader Arnon Zamora was wounded in the operation and later died. A video released by Israel’s military showed commandos entering a room to find the three male hostages. In another building 200 yards away, Noa Argamani was also rescued.

 

Abdullah Al-Jamal’s recent articles for the Palestine Chronicle accused Israel of massacres and genocide in Gaza. Just days before his death, he wrote about Gaza families taking in displaced people, with an article titled “My House Will Always Be Open.” The contrast between his public advocacy and the hidden reality of his involvement in holding hostages underscores the complex and tragic dimensions of the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

 

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Credit: Wall Street Journal 2024-06-20

 

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