Israel\u2019s army chief said troops failed in their mission to rescue three hostages mistakenly killed\u00a0in Gaza earlier this month as the military on Thursday published its report into the incident. <\/p>\n
Herzi Halevi, chief\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0General\u00a0Staff\u00a0of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said\u00a0the\u00a0shootings \u201ccould have been prevented,\u201d but he determined\u00a0there was \u201cno malice\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0event and\u00a0the\u00a0soldiers carried out\u00a0the\u00a0right action to\u00a0the\u00a0best\u00a0of\u00a0their understanding\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0event at that moment.\u201d <\/p>\n
Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer Talalka were captured by Hamas on October 7 and taken to Gaza. The three men were accidentally killed during an IDF operation around the Gaza City neighborhood of Shejaiya on December 15 in an incident that shocked Israeli society. <\/p>\n
The\u00a0report into their deaths concluded that\u00a0Israeli\u00a0command ranks had\u00a0information about the presence\u00a0of\u00a0hostages\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0area where they were killed and \u201ceven took actions to prevent strikes on locations suspected\u00a0of\u00a0having\u00a0hostages.\u201d <\/p>\n
But\u00a0the\u00a0investigation also found that\u00a0Israeli\u00a0forces\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0field had \u201cinsufficient awareness\u201d\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0possibility that\u00a0hostages\u00a0would approach\u00a0them or that\u00a0they would encounter\u00a0them other than\u00a0as\u00a0part\u00a0of\u00a0a special operation to free\u00a0the\u00a0Israelis held. <\/p>\n
According to\u00a0the\u00a0findings,\u00a0on\u00a0December 15, an\u00a0Israeli\u00a0soldier fired toward three\u00a0hostages\u00a0\u201cidentified\u00a0as\u00a0threats,\u201d killing two\u00a0of\u00a0them.\u00a0The\u00a0third hostage fled, and\u00a0the\u00a0battalion commander gave an order to hold fire to identify\u00a0the\u00a0third person. <\/p>\n
After\u00a0the\u00a0commander heard someone screaming \u201chelp\u201d\u00a0in\u00a0Hebrew, he called on the person to come toward\u00a0the\u00a0soldiers;\u00a0the\u00a0hostage emerged from a building and moved toward\u00a0the\u00a0troops,\u00a0the\u00a0report\u00a0said. Two soldiers didn\u2019t hear\u00a0the\u00a0commander\u2019s orders to hold fire \u201cdue to noise from a nearby tank\u201d and fatally shot\u00a0the\u00a0third hostage, according to\u00a0the\u00a0investigation. <\/p>\n
The\u00a0probe also concluded that\u00a0the\u00a0\u201chostages\u00a0were walking shirtless, and\u00a0one\u00a0of\u00a0them was waving a white flag, standing at a point with limited visibility relative to\u00a0the\u00a0position\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0soldier that fired\u00a0the\u00a0shot.\u201d <\/p>\n
In\u00a0the\u00a0days before the killing of the hostages, the report said Israeli soldiers heard cries for help in Hebrew coming from a building while\u00a0troops fought Hamas gunmen, adding that\u00a0the\u00a0soldiers thought\u00a0it\u00a0was an attempt to trap\u00a0them. Also, a camera that was mounted on a\u00a0military\u00a0dog during\u00a0the\u00a0fight captured the voices of the hostages crying for help. <\/p>\n
That same day, a note reading \u201cHelp\u201d\u00a0in\u00a0Hebrew was found at\u00a0the\u00a0exit\u00a0of\u00a0a tunnel,\u00a0the\u00a0report\u00a0claimed, which\u00a0Israeli\u00a0soldiers\u00a0interpreted\u00a0as\u00a0an attempt by Hamas to lure\u00a0them. <\/p>\n
On\u00a0December 14,\u00a0Israeli\u00a0drone footage identified signs reading \u201cSOS\u201d and \u201cHelp, 3\u00a0hostages\u201d\u00a0on\u00a0a building 200 meters (656 feet) from where the hostages were killed the next day,\u00a0the\u00a0report\u00a0said, claiming the Israeli military suspected this was a trap after blue barrels that\u00a0it\u00a0says\u00a0are commonly found\u00a0in\u00a0rigged areas were spotted nearby. <\/p>\n
Halevi, the military IDF chief, concluded that the killing of\u00a0the\u00a0hostages\u00a0shouldn\u2019t have happened and didn\u2019t match up to the risk of the situation. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0standard operating procedures are necessary, and\u00a0they are also\u00a0intended to protect us, so that we do not kill our own forces,\u201d he said. \u201cThey set and impact fateful decisions, as happened in this event.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have told our troops is to be extra vigilant and do one more safety check before dealing with kinetics with any threat that they face on the battlefield,\u201d Conricus said, \u201cbut it is a very challenging environment that our troops are in.\u201d <\/p>\n
All three hostages were young men. Haim and Shimriz were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, while Talalka was taken near Kibbutz Nir Am. <\/p>\n
Talalka, 25, was a member of Israel\u2019s Bedouin community and\u00a0the eldest of 10 children. He lived in the town of Hura and worked with his father and brothers at a chicken hatchery near Kibbutz Nir Am. <\/p>\n
On October 7, he was with his father at the chicken hatchery and told his sister in a phone call that he had been injured by terrorist gunfire, until the call disconnected, according to the Israeli Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum. <\/p>\n
Haim, 28, was a gifted musician and heavy metal fan. He had played the drums for 20 years and\u00a0was supposed to perform at a Metal Music Festival in Tel Aviv on October 7 with his band, Persephore. Yotam last spoke with his family that morning. He told them his house had burned down before losing contact with them at 10:44 a.m., soon after which he was kidnapped by Hamas, according to the family forum. <\/p>\n
Less is known about Shimriz, but\u00a0his family, like those of Talalka and Haim, had spoken publicly about their ordeal <\/p>\n
Haim\u2019s mother, Iris, had told Israel\u2019s Channel 11 that she had faith her son would return even without raising her voice at the government. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome people think that if they don\u2019t shout, no one will bring their children back. I tell them: we can do it peacefully and through a respectful dialogue. The children will come back, I have no doubt,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Negotiations to release the more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups have yielded little results in recent weeks. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re holding talks even during these very moments,\u201d Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday at a meeting with hostages\u2019 families. \u201cI can\u2019t elaborate on the status \u2013 we\u2019re operating in order to return everyone.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
Israel\u2019s army chief said troops failed in their mission to rescue three hostages mistakenly killed\u00a0in Gaza earlier this month as the military on Thursday published its report into the incident. Herzi Halevi, chief\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0General\u00a0Staff\u00a0of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said\u00a0the\u00a0shootings \u201ccould have been prevented,\u201d but he determined\u00a0there was \u201cno malice\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0event and\u00a0the\u00a0soldiers carried out\u00a0the\u00a0right action to\u00a0the\u00a0best\u00a0of\u00a0their understanding\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0event <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}