Rules of engagement were violated in the incident, and three hostages, all in their 20s, died.
Three Israeli hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip were shirtless and one was carrying a white flag, military officials said in an initial investigation into the incident.
The incident occurred in a hotly contested area where Hamas fighters operate in plain clothes and use deception tactics, Israeli officials said on Saturday.
The official added that soldiers saw the hostages emerging from Israeli forces several dozen meters away in the Shujaya area.
“They are all shirtless and holding sticks with white cloth wrapped around them. The soldier feels danger and fires. He declares them to be terrorists, they are [forces] If they fired, two people would be killed instantly,” a military official said.
A third prisoner was wounded and fled into a nearby building, calling for help in Hebrew.
“Immediately, the battalion commander issued a cease-fire order, but shots were fired again at the third person, killing him as well,” the official said. “This was a violation of our rules of engagement.”
grief and anger
The military said on Friday that the three were abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Kfar Azha, Yotam Haim, 28, and Alon Shamlis, 26, and Samer Talalka, who was abducted from near Kibbutz Nir Am. He was identified as Mr. (25 years old).
About 300 people paid their respects at Talalka’s funeral in his hometown of Hura in southern Israel on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.
“We had so many hopes and expectations that he would come back,” his cousin Alaa Talalka told Israeli public broadcaster Kan.
“I’m not going to start pointing fingers at who’s guilty and who’s innocent. This is not the time,” Talarca said. “The families are only thinking about how to bring the hostages back to life. Now is the time to seek an end to the war.”
They were among about 240 people captured in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, which killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli statistics. It was a person.
Promising to destroy Hamas and take back the hostages, Israel has launched a major military offensive against the Palestinian group, which has left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins. The region’s Hamas-run government says at least 18,800 people have been killed in the war, most of them women and children.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the killing of the hostages an “unbearable tragedy.”
Hundreds of people are expected to gather in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call on Netanyahu’s government to secure the release of the 129 hostages still being held in Gaza. Some returned home during the pause in fighting, including prisoners being released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
