Israeli hostages mistakenly killed by IDF were waving white flag when troops shot them, reveals initial probe

Three Israeli hostages accidently killed by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops were shirtless and waving a white flag when they were mistaken for being militants, according to an IDF official. Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis took to the streets in the city of Tel Aviv urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to secure the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. 

Three Israeli hostages – Yotam Haim (28), Samer Talalka (22), and Alon Shamriz (26) – were killed in Gaza’s Shejaiya on Friday (Dec 15) around 10:00 am (local time), said an Israeli military official. The case, according to the IDF, was “against our rules of engagement” and had prompted an investigation at the “highest level”. 

The initial probe revealed that a soldier stationed at a building identified three suspicious figures emerging from another building around several dozen metres away, reported Times of Israel citing a senior IDF official. 

All three were shirtless and one of them was carrying a stick with a white cloth. According to the initial probe, the soldier thought it was an attempt by Hamas to lure them into a trap and immediately opened fire and shouted “terrorists!”. 

The soldier, according to the probe, killed two men, while the third one returned to the building he emerged from. Subsequently, the commander of the battalion went outside and asked the troops to stop firing. 

The third hostage was heard shouting “Help” in Hebrew and came out of the building and another soldier opened fire at him and fatally shot him, it was found after the initial probe. 

Wichian Temthong, a freed Thai hostage, told BBC, that he was “very shocked” and “saddened” to learn about the deaths of the three men with whom he had spent nearly 50 days in captivity.

“We couldn’t speak each other’s languages, so we mostly did hand signals and drawing to communicate,” the Thai worker told BBC. Four of them would shake hands and make a hand gesture to say “keep on fighting” every day to boost their moral support, said Wichian. 

Netanyahu made an appearance on TV to confirm on Saturday (Dec 16) that new negotiations were underway for release of hostages held by Hamas. A report by Reuters citing a source said that the chief of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, David Barnea, met Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Europe late on Friday. 

The meeting indicates a possible new Gaza truce and a prisoner and hostage deal. Meanwhile, in Israel, in a speech followed by the news of the three hostages being mistakenly killed, the Israeli PM said that their deaths “broke the hearts of the nation” but vowed to “continue until victory”. 

Netanyahu, in a televised speech, spoke about how the Israeli offensive in Gaza has helped clinch a partial hostage-release deal in November and vowed to maintain intense military pressure on Hamas. 

“The instruction I am giving the negotiating team is predicated on this pressure, without which we have nothing,” said the Israeli PM. 

Meanwhile, Hamas, in a statement said that the group “affirms its position not to open any negotiations to exchange prisoners unless the aggression against our people stops once and for all.” It added, “The movement communicated this position to all mediators.”

Israelis continue to put pressure on the Netanyahu government to secure the release of the more than 100 hostages still in Gaza. Hundreds took to the streets in Tel Aviv after the news of the three hostages being mistakenly killed by IDF.

The demonstrators marched toward the IDF’s headquarters chanting, “Their time is running out! Bring them home now!”, quoted Times of Israel. “There is no victory until every last hostage is released!” 

Tagit Tzin, the aunt of Dafna (15) and Ela Elyakim (9) who were freed from Gaza last month, told The Independent that while the families understood the military mistakenly killed the three hostages, she believes the error highlights how the only way to retrieve the hostages safely was through a truce deal, not military action.

“Only a ceasefire deal will bring the hostages out alive and not put our soldiers in danger like this,” said Tzin. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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