The Israeli army published the results of the investigation into the killing of 3 of its captured soldiers in Gaza by its forces’ fire during the war that has been ongoing in the Strip for about 3 months.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the army “regrets the killing of the three prisoners by fire from its forces, and that it has learned lessons and ordered the soldiers to respect the rules of engagement,” as he put it.
For his part, Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy said that the killing of the three captured soldiers in Gaza was “a serious incident with very serious consequences.”
Halevy stressed that the Israeli army failed in its mission to rescue the prisoners in this incident, and added that the army leadership feels responsible for the killing of the captured soldiers during a failed attempt to free them.
They thought it was a trick
The Israeli army investigation revealed the presence of soldiers in the same building in which the three prisoners were mistakenly killed by Israeli bullets in Gaza, and they heard their cries for help in Hebrew 5 days before the incident.
While storming a building on December 10, the soldiers heard calls in Hebrew saying, “We are kidnapped” and “Help,” but they thought it was a ploy by fighters of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), to trap them in an ambush in the building in Shuja’iya. East of Gaza City.
The Israeli soldiers left the building believing it was a mine, and the investigation said that 5 Hamas members who were guarding the prisoners were killed by Israeli helicopter fire while trying to escape from the building.
The investigation suggested that the prisoners then fled the building, and after 5 days, Israeli soldiers opened fire on them after they considered them a “threat.”
The three prisoners were bare-chested and waving a white flag when they were shot, according to the investigation.
