The chief of the general staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has stated that the three Israeli hostages who were erroneously killed by Israeli forces on Friday did all within their capacity to show that they represented no threat, including holding a white flag.
Leading Israel’s battle in Gaza, Herzi Halevi, made a promise to “do everything to prevent the recurrence of such cases in the continuation of the fighting” and accepted full responsibility for the “painful event” in a video message on Saturday.
Halevi stated, “The three hostages who survived seventy hellish days moved towards the IDF soldiers and were killed by our forces’ fire.” He also mentioned that “they held a white cloth so that we would understand and that they moved without shirts so that we would not suspect them of carrying a bomb on their bodies.”
“We were unsuccessful in this instance. He said, “The shooting at the hostages was carried out contrary to the open-fire regulations. We feel the deep sorrow of the families for the deaths of the hostages.”
“Shooting at someone who raises a white flag and requests to surrender is prohibited. However, Halevi pointed out that this shooting was done under duress and during warfare.
Three twentysomethings, Yotam Haim, Samer Al-Talalka, and Alon Shamriz, were abducted from Israeli villages on October 7th, during the Hamas onslaught.
According to preliminary investigation, the three showed up shirtless from a building “tens of metres” away from a group of Israeli troops in the Shejaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City, waving a stick covered in white fabric. They were standing close to the structure, which had the phrases “help” and “SOS” spray-painted on its outer walls.
An Israeli military official, who spoke to media under condition of anonymity, claimed that one of the IDF soldiers opened fire out of fear, instantly killing two of the men. The brigade commander ordered the men to cease firing when the third person rushed back to the building and cried out for aid in Hebrew. However, he was mortally injured by another burst of fire and died later.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, described the event as a “terrible tragedy.” He said that Israel’s military effort won’t alter in a Saturday speech to the country. He declared, “We are as committed as ever to going all the way to the end, to dismantling Hamas, to returning all of our hostages.”
However, some argue that public outrage over the incident may put pressure on the government to resume negotiations with the Palestinian militant group over the remaining hostages. Critics claim that the mistaken killing demonstrates that the government is more concerned with eliminating Hamas than freeing the hostages.
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During their October raid, Hamas captured about 250 Israelis. During a brief ceasefire last month, almost 100 hostages were freed, leaving 129 individuals in detention.
