Three Israeli hostages shot dead by IDF troops had been holding up a white flag on a stick and were shirtless when they were mistaken for Hamas terrorists, a military official has said.
Yotam Haim, 28, Alon Shamriz, 26, and Samer El-Talalka, 22, were tragically gunned down during Israeli operations in Gaza City, it was revealed yesterday.
The incident, which has sparked fury on the streets of Tel Aviv, happened in an area of intense combat where Hamas operate in civilian clothing and use deception tactics.
The hostages were fired upon against Israel’s rules of engagement, the official confirmed.
The Israeli military said a soldier saw the hostages emerging tens of meters from Israeli forces in the area of Shejaiya. The IDF previously said the three men had been wrongly identified as a threat.
Three Israeli hostages killed mistakenly in Gaza by Israeli forces had been holding up a white flag. Left to right: Alon Shamriz, Samer El-Talalka and Yotam Haim
Israeli soldiers are pictured in the Gaza Strip as the war rages on between Israel and Hamas
The death of the three hostages sparked anger in Israel, with protesters marching last night to share their anguish and fury. Pictured: Relatives and supporters of hostages held by Palestinian militants demonstrate outside the Israeli ministry of defence in Tel Aviv
‘They’re all without shirts and they have a stick with a white cloth on it. The soldier feels threatened and opens fire. He declares that they’re terrorists, they (forces) open fire, two are killed immediately,’ said the military official.
The third hostage was wounded and retreated into a nearby building where he called for help in Hebrew.
‘Immediately the battalion commander issues a ceasefire order, but again there’s another burst of fire towards the third figure and he also dies,’ said the official. ‘This was against our rules of engagement,’ he added.
Israeli media gave a more detailed account. The mass circulation daily Yediot Ahronot said that according to an investigation into the incident, a sniper identified the three hostages as suspects when they emerged from the building, despite them not being armed, and shot two of the three.
Soldiers followed the third when he ran into the building and hid, shouting at him to come out and at least one soldier shot him when he emerged from a staircase, Yediot Ahronot said.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz gave a similar account based on a preliminary investigation, saying the soldiers who followed the third hostage into the building believed he was a Hamas member trying to pull them into a trap.
The three hostages were among about 250 people snatched during Hamas’s October 7 attacks in Israel, which killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Vowing to destroy Hamas and bring back the hostages, Israel launched a massive military offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement that has left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins.
The Hamas-run territory’s health ministry says the war has killed at least 18,800 people, mostly women and children.
Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said yesterday that during fighting in Shejaiya district of Gaza City, troops ‘mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat and as a result, fired toward them and the hostages were killed’.
The military said later it had started ‘reviewing the incident’ and that ‘immediate lessons from the event have been learned’ and passed on to all troops on the ground.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described their deaths as an ‘unbearable tragedy’.
An Israeli flag is covered in red paint as relatives of hostages held by Hamas demonstrate outside the Israeli ministry of defence in Tel Aviv on December 15
People hold signs as they protest following an announcement by Israel’s military that they had mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages, in Tel Aviv, Israel, December 15, 2023
People use bullhorns as they march through Tel Aviv following the news that three Israeli hostages have been killed
‘Together with the entire people of Israel, I bow my head in deep sorrow and mourn the death of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped,’ Mr Netanyahu said.
‘My heart goes out to the grieving families in their difficult time.’
Mr Haim was abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Mr Talalka was snatched from Kibbutz Nir Am on October 7.
The third victim, Mr Shamriz was a computer engineering student born to Iranian parents.
The families of the hostages had been desperately trying to get them home since they disappeared more than two months ago.
The death of the three hostages sparked anger in Israel, with protesters marching last night to share their anguish and fury.
Scenes from Tel Aviv showed crowds of people, many themselves the families of people kidnapped by Hamas, taking to the streets with banners to mourn and call for the return of Israelis trapped in Gaza.
Protesters held signs calling for an immediate hostage exchange, showed pictures of loved ones now missing for nearly ten weeks while an Israeli flag coated in red paint was left outside the ministry of defence.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the defence ministry, including Merav Svirsky, sister of Hamas-held hostage Itay Svirsky, who said: ‘I am dying of fear. We demand a deal now.’
Hadas Kalderon, whose former partner is still held hostage after their two teenage children were released in November, said the Israeli government must pay any price to free all hostages. ‘To make a deal, now, that’s what I’m saying. Yesterday, not now,’ she said.
It comes amid growing international concern about the Israeli operation in the region.
Israeli soldiers take their positions following an Israeli incursion in the Jenin refugee camp this week
The offensive has flattened much of northern Gaza and driven 85 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes.
On Saturday, the besieged Gaza Strip was suffering from a prolonged communications blackout that severed telephone and internet connections, while the United Nations said hunger levels had spiralled in recent days.
Internet and telephone lines went down on Thursday evening and were still inaccessible on Saturday morning, according to internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org, hampering aid deliveries and rescue efforts as Israel’s war against Gaza’s ruling militant group Hamas stretched into the 11th week.
‘The internet blackout is ongoing, and based on our records it is the longest such incident’ in the over-two-month war, said Alp Toker, the group’s director.
The United Nations’ humanitarian affairs department said communications with Gaza were ‘severely disrupted’ due to damage to telecommunications lines in the south.
Displaced people have squeezed into shelters mainly in the south in a spiralling humanitarian crisis.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has expressed unease over Israel’s failure to reduce civilian casualties and its plans for the future of Gaza, but the White House continues to offer wholehearted support with weapons shipments and diplomatic backing.
In meetings with Israeli leaders on Thursday and Friday, United States national security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed a timetable for winding down the intense combat phase of the war.
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on December 15
The IDF expressed ‘deep remorse over the tragic incident’ and launched an immediate investigation. Pictured: Israeli soldiers gather at a position near the border, December 15
The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, was also expected to visit Israel soon to discuss the issue.
The US has pushed Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, and the government said it would open a second entry point to speed up deliveries.
With only a trickle of aid able to enter and distribution disrupted by fighting, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) reported a surge from 38 per cent to 56 per cent in the number of displaced households experiencing severe levels of hunger in the space of under two weeks.
In the north, where aid has been unable to enter, ‘households … are expected to face a catastrophic situation,’ the WFP said.
It comes as the Wall Street journal reported that Israel and Qatar are set to try and revive hostage release discussions.
David Barnea, the director of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, and Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani were scheduled to meet today in Norway.
Talks would centre on how hostages could be returned in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel and a ceasefire. However, the newspaper reports that there could be ‘significant’ roadblocks.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have gathered again across the UK this weekend to call for an end to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
In north London, about 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in Camden to call for a ceasefire, with some shouting ‘from the river to the sea Palestine will be free’.