A journalist and a doctor were among the family members holding Israeli hostages in their home in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

“Following checks by the IDF and the Shin Bet, it can be confirmed that [journalist] Abdullah al-Jamal was an operative of the Hamas terrorist organisation, who kept the hostages Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv in his family home in Nuseirat,” the military said in a statement posted to X/Twitter.

The statement added: “Abdullah’s family home held hostages alongside family members. This is further proof that the Hamas terrorist organisation uses the civilian population as a human shield.”

Al-Jamal was a contributor to The Palestine Chronicle, writing for the publication as recently as June 7.

The publication confirmed his death on Twitter/X.

In a statement, Al Jazeera said: “Abdullah Al-Jamal has never worked with the network, but had contributed to an op-ed in 2019. The network also stresses that these allegations are a continuation of the process of slander and misinformation aimed at harming Al Jazeera’s reputation, professionalism, and independence. It calls for accuracy before publishing any of these allegations.”

He also has a profile page on the Al Jazeera website, where he is described as reporting from the 2018–2019 Gaza border riots, called the “Great March of Return” by Palestinians.

There is one comment piece with his byline listed on the sit, on the topic of the March of Return.

A Facebook post under his name written on October 7 appeared to celebrate the Hamas attacks. 

Al-Jamal wrote: “Praised be to God thank you very much. Oh God pay back.”

He was also the spokesman for the Hamas-run Labor Ministry in Gaza.

Imran Khan, a senior correspondent at Al Jazeera English, attempted to distance the Qatari network from Al-Jamal.

According to i24NEWS Khan said: “The news that an Al Jazeera journalist was harboring one of the captives is completely false. The individual in question who was killed in the raid along with his family was, at one point, a freelance journalist. He has never worked for Al Jazeera Arabic or English. He is certainly not in any way, shape, or form an Al Jazeera Journalist.”