RSS
Noa Argamani Was Held Captive in Al Jazeera Contributor’s Home
The Al Jazeera Media Network logo is seen on its headquarters building in Doha, Qatar, June 8, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon
i24 News – Noa Argamani, the Israeli hostage freed with three others in an audacious rescue operation by the Israel Border Police’s elite Yamam unit, was held captive in the family home of Gazan “civilians,” a report said on Sunday.
Rami Abdul, the chairman of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, said that the organization’s initial evidence showed the Israeli special forces used a ladder to enter the home of Dr. Ahmed Al-Jamal and his family.
Several of the family members were killed during the operation including 36-year-old Al Jazeera contributor Abdullah Al-Jamal. According to the Quds news agency, Al-Jamal was also identified as a staff writer for the U.S. outlet The Palestine Chronicle. Al-Jamal’s wife was also killed during the rescue mission.
Absolutely no shame at all: Palestinian report reveals the identity of the “innocent civilians” who held israeli hostages in their home including @AJEnglish “journalist” Abdullah a/Al-Jamal and his father who is a medical Dr. https://t.co/408uPbx7he
— Guy Azriel (@GuyAz) June 9, 2024
Meanwhile, Imran Khan, a senior correspondent on Al Jazeera‘s English channel published an Instagram post distancing the network from Al-Jamal, saying he was a freelancer in the past. Khan wrote, “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.”
The operation, during which the three other hostages were also rescued from a separate location, has drawn condemnation for the high alleged death toll on the Palestinian side. However, these criticisms fail to address the responsibility of holding captives in populated areas deep inside Gaza’s residential areas.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor also failed to address why so-called “civilians” were in custody of Argamani, an Israeli hostage who was kidnapped along with her boyfriend during the Nova music festival on October 7. Hamas allegedly paid civilian families to hold Israeli hostages.
The organization also called for an investigation into claims that the Israeli forces used the U.S. humanitarian aid pier to enter. This claim has been denied by both the U.S. and Israel.
In response to this allegation, Palestinians have said they would boycott aid that was transferred via the pier, which only returned to operation this weekend after bad weather put it out of order in late May.
The post Noa Argamani Was Held Captive in Al Jazeera Contributor’s Home first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.