Jerusalem, Dec 15 (EFE). – The Israeli Defense Forces admitted on Friday that it killed three Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip, whom it “mistakenly identified as a threat.”
“During combat in Shejaiya, the IDF mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat. As a result, the troops fired toward them and they were killed,” a military statement said, without specifying when the accident occurred.
The army has been engaged in intense fighting with Hamas for more than a week in Shijaiya, a neighborhood outside Gaza City that is considered one of the group’s strongholds and where Israel believes some of the hostages it is holding are being hidden.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari called the incident “tragic” and said the army “bears responsibility” and that “soldiers encountered many terrorists, including suicide bombers,” in the area.
Hagari said it was believed that the three had either escaped their captors or had been abandoned.
The army said that during searches in the area where the incident occurred, suspicions arose about the identity of the deceased, so their bodies were transferred to Israeli territory for examination, which confirmed that they were hostages.
The victims have been identified as Yotam Haim and Samer Talalka, kidnapped on Oct. 7 from the Kfar Aza and Nir Am kibbutzes, respectively, and a third whose family asked that his identity not be revealed.
Their bodies were taken to the Hatzvi Center at the Shura military base, where most of the victims of the Hamas attack have been identified, for analysis and identification of their remains.
The IDF has notified all the families of the hostages, the statement said.
The army said the incident was “under review” and that there would be “full transparency” in the investigation.
Of the more than 240 people Hamas kidnapped on Israeli soil during the Oct. 7 raid, 129 hostages remain in Gaza, about 20 of whom are believed dead.
Israeli authorities announced Friday morning that they had recovered the bodies of three hostages taken alive by Hamas, French-Israeli civilian Elia Toledano and soldiers Nik Beizer and Ron Sherman. EFE
sga/ics/mcd
