Violation of the rules of engagement during an incident which resulted in the death of three hostages, all aged in their twenties.
Three Israeli hostages mistakenly killed in Gaza by Israeli forces were shirtless and one was waving a white flag, according to an initial investigation into the incident, a military official said.
The incident occurred in a zone of intense fighting where Hamas fighters operate in civilian clothes and use deception tactics, an Israeli official said Saturday.
A soldier saw the hostages emerge dozens of meters from Israeli forces in the Shujayea area, the official added.
“They are 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 are terrorists, they (the forces) open fire, two are killed immediately,” the military official said.
The third captive was injured and retreated to a nearby building where he called for help in Hebrew.
“Immediately the battalion commander gives a ceasefire order, but again there is another burst of fire towards the third figure and he also dies,” the official said. “It was against our rules of engagement.”
Grief and anger
The army on Friday identified the three men as Yotam Haim, 28, and Alon Shamriz, 26, kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Samer Talalka, 25, kidnapped by Hamas from the neighboring Kibbutz Nir Am.
About 300 people came to mourn Talalka at his funeral Saturday in his hometown of Hura in southern Israel, the Associated Press news agency reported.
“We had so many hopes, expectations, that he would come back to us,” his cousin, Alaa Talalka, told Israeli public broadcaster Kan.
“We’re not going to start pointing fingers at who’s guilty and who’s not. It’s just not the time,” Talalka said. “The families only think about how to bring the hostages back alive. Now is the time to call for an end to the war.
They were among 240 people captured during Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, which killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Promising to destroy Hamas and return the hostages, Israel launched a massive military offensive against the Palestinian group that left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins. The territory’s Hamas-led government says the war has killed at least 18,800 people, most of them women and children.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the hostages’ deaths 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 held in Gaza. Several of them returned home during a break in hostilities that saw the release of captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.