Israeli troops mistakenly shot three Israeli hostages to death, despite them not being armed, in a battle-torn neighborhood of Gaza City on Friday.
The three Israelis were taken hostage by Hamas during the group’s October 7 terror attack.
What happened?
During combat operations in Shejaiya, a dense neighborhood in the Gaza City, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops “mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat.”
All of the Israeli captives were bare chested and carrying a white flag when they were shot, according to an initial military investigation.
According to reports, the three Israeli men, all in their 20s, had somehow escaped their captors and were approaching an IDF position in Shejaiya. One of the men was carrying a stick with a white cloth tied to it.
The Israeli soldier, who believed the men moving toward him was an attempt by Hamas to lure IDF soldiers into a trap, shouted “terrorists!” and immediately opened fire.
While two of the hostages fell to the ground immediately, the third, who was wounded, fled into a nearby building. He was screaming for help in Hebrew. The Israeli commander issued an order to stop shooting but another burst of gunfire killed the third man, the official said.
Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported that according to an investigation into the incident, Israeli soldiers followed the third hostage and shouted at him to come out, believing that he was a Hamas member trying to pull them into a trap. At least one soldier shot the captive when he emerged from a staircase, Yediot Ahronot said.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the IDF bears full responsibility for the “tragic incident,” which took place on Friday morning, “in an area where the soldiers encountered many terrorists, including suicide bombers.” Israeli military official said the soldiers’ behavior was “against our rules of engagement”, the official said, and was being investigated at the highest level.
Israeli military officials say 116 soldiers have been killed during the country’s ground invasion in Gaza.
Who were the Israeli captives?
The three young men mistakenly killed by the Israeli forces were identified as Yotam Haim, Samer El-Talalka and Alon Shamriz. Haim, 28, was a drummer for heavy metal band. Talalka, 22, worked in the Kibbutz Nir Am hatchery, while Shamriz, 26, was a computer engineering student.
Anger and protests in Israel
In Tel Aviv, anger and grief mounts over the shooting of three hostages by IDF forces in Gaza.
At a protest in the plaza at the Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art, since renamed “Hostage Square,” released captives and the families of those remaining in Gaza renewed calls for Israel’s government to outline a plan for the release of the estimated 129 people remaining in the besieged strip.
Rallies were held in Tel Aviv on Friday night to demand immediate action to bring back the rest of those being held in Gaza. Protestors chanted “Shame”, “There’s no time” and “Deal now!” amid a growing thread of anger against Israel government.
The mistaken killing by the IDF has amplified an already bubbling sense of anger over the Netanyahu government’s handling of the hostage crisis. “If Israel can’t protect its citizens, why does it exist?” demanded demonstrator Ben Aviv, an Israeli citizen.
In southern Gaza, Israeli strikes killed Al Jazeera journalist Samer Abu Daqqa and wounded its chief correspondent in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, in the city of Khan Younis. The two were reporting at a school that had been hit by airstrikes.
How many Israeli captives are there?
The Israeli prime minister’s office estimated that around 115 of the roughly 240 people taken hostage by Hamas remain alive in the enclave. Around 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas on October 7.
Hamas released over 100 hostages for Palestinian prisoners during a brief ceasefire in November. Nearly all freed on both sides were women and minors.
Hamas said it will only free the remaining hostages if Israel ends the war and releases all Palestinian prisoners. Israel held nearly 7,000 Palestinians accused or convicted of security offenses, including hundreds rounded up since the start of the war.
Inside Gaza, more than 18,700 people have been killed, while around 90% of the population has been displaced, due to continuous attacks by Israeli forces.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have fired more than 29,000 air-to-ground munitions into the Palestinian enclave since October 7, and only 55 to 60% of them have been precision-guided, according to the U.S. intelligence assessment.
Netanyahu under pressure over death of hostages
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences to the families of the dead in a post on the social media platform X. “The entire state of Israel will mourn this evening,” he said Friday.
“This is a combat zone where there have been many incidents in recent days. Immediate lessons from the event are now being passed on to all the fighting forces in the field.”
He told a press briefing that they were as “committed as ever” to war and were determined to fight to the end and Gaza “will be demilitarized and under Israeli security control following the defeat of Hamas”.
At the same press conference, Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said that he takes full responsibility for yesterday’s incident. “This is one of the most tragic incidents I have ever known,” he added.
Netanyahu has been under pressure domestically, both over his failure to anticipate the attacks and to bring the hostages home.
Several European foreign ministers urge ceasefire
Israel’s account of how the three hostages were killed also raised questions about its soldiers’ conduct. Palestinians have frequently claimed that Israeli soldiers opened fire as civilians tried to flee to safety.
Foreign ministers for Germany, France and the UK have urged a ceasefire.
France’s foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, arrived in Israel where she pressed for an “immediate and durable” truce in the war with Hamas. “Too many civilians are being killed,” Colonna said in her remarks in Tel Aviv with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen.
The French Ministry also condemned the Israeli bombing of a residential building in Rafah that killed one of its staff in a region previously declared a safe zone. “France condemns this bombing of a residential building which caused the death of many other civilians. We demand that all light be shed by the Israeli authorities on the circumstances of this bombing, as quickly as possible,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The UK’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron, and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock published a joint article in The Sunday Times and Welt am Sonntag, calling for a “sustainable” ceasefire, saying the goal must be peace lasting “generations”. The UK foreign secretary and his German counterpart called on all parties to work towards a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
WHO described Al-Shifa hospital situation a ‘bloodbath’
The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concerns about the state of Al-Shifa hospital in north Gaza due to a shortage of supplies and large number of injured patients unable to receive proper medical care.
UN workers delivering medical supplies to the Al-Shifa Hospital have described the emergency department as a “bloodbath”, with hundreds of injured people inside, and a constant flow of new patients.
According to the UN team, “patients with trauma injuries were being sutured on the floor, limited to no pain management is available at the hospital, and the emergency department is so full that workers must take care not to step on patients on the floor.” Al-Shifa Hospital, once the largest referral hospital in Gaza, is now barely functioning. “The operating theatres and other major services are not working due to lack of fuel, oxygen, specialized medical staff, and supplies. The hospital is only able to provide basic trauma stabilization, and has no blood for transfusion.”