Guardian admits it did not check before publishing article commemorating ‘journalist’ accused of holding hostages
Article about journalists killed in Gaza included image of Abdallah Aljamal, who was widely reported to have held Israelis in his own home for eight months
Abdallah Aljamal was killed when the IDF rescued three hostages from his home
The Guardian has admitted that it did not carry out due diligence before publishing an article commemorating journalists killed in Gaza that featured an image of an alleged Hamas operative widely reported to have held three Israeli hostages captive in his home for over eight months.
Abdallah Aljamal’s name features in an article in Monday’s print edition of the newspaper bearing the headline “The deadly toll on journalists in the Gaza war”, which states: “Over the past 22 months, the war in Gaza has become the most deadly conflict for journalists in history.”
In an online version of the story, Aljamal’s image is included in a montage of hundreds of headshots, with a caption reading: “The Gaza Media Centre says that 238 journalists and media workers have been killed in the conflict.”
The media group said in response to a request for comment: "The article in question focused on the 189 journalists killed according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Online, there was a picture credited to the Gaza Media Centre, who allege a higher number, but it was their image and their assertion which we were clear had not been verified by the Guardian."
Contrary to that claim, however, the article did not state that the image of Aljamal had not been verified by the Guardian.
Aljamal was killed alongside family members including his wife and doctor father on 8 June 2024 during an IDF operation to rescue three hostages – Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv – who were being held in their home in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.
The IDF said in a statement at the time: “Following the completion of IDF and ISA [Israeli Security Agency – Shin Bet] examinations of reports on the subject, it can be confirmed that Abdallah Aljamal was an operative in the Hamas terrorist organisation.
“The hostages were held captive by Abdallah Aljamal and members of his family in their home. This is further evidence of the deliberate use of civilian homes and buildings by the Hamas terrorist organisation to hold Israeli hostages captive in Gaza.”
In May this year it was reported that the three former hostages, who spent 246 days in captivity, had filed a lawsuit against Aljamal’s former employer, Palestine Chronicle, which is owned by a US-based, tax-exempt nonprofit organisation called People Media Project.
The lawsuit argues that the Palestine Chronicle provided Aljamal with a platform to “disseminate Hamas propaganda”, providing material support to a US-designated terrorist organisation, in violation of international law.
At the time of his death, it was widely reported that Aljamal worked for Qatari-owned news network Al Jazeera*,* as he had an author page on their website. However the publication quickly issued a statement denying this.
It 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.”
After his death, it was also reported that Aljamal had previously held the role of spokesman for the Hamas-run Labour Ministry in Gaza.
Within 24 hours of publishing its “journalist death toll” article, The Guardian added a correction note to alert readers to an earlier error regarding another individual commemorated in the piece, Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera journalist.
It said: “This article was amended on 1 September 2025. An earlier version said Israel had offered ‘no evidence’ to support its claim that Anas al-Sharif also was a Hamas terrorist. It has been revised to refer to the IDF having claimed evidence (in the form of “intelligence and documents from Gaza”; the latter, reportedly dated prior to the war, have not been independently verified).”
Posted Sep 3, 2025, 6:16 PM UTC