The Israeli military releases details of an operation in Gaza that accidentally killed three Israeli hostages
The three Israeli hostages killed by the Israeli army itself in Shejaiya in the Gaza Strip were shirtless and one of them was holding a stick with an improvised white flag. But the soldier who shot them thought they were terrorists.
Two died immediately. One was injured and managed to hide in a building, from where he shouted Hebrew phrases. But another soldier also believed he was a terrorist and fired.
Hundreds of people paid their last respects at the funeral of one of the dead hostages, Samer Fouad Al Talalka, an Arab Israeli from the Bedouin minority.
1 of 1 military operations in Gaza that ended in the accidental death of three hostages. — Photo: TV Globo Military personnel during an operation in the Gaza Strip that ended with the mistaken death of three hostages. — Photo: TV Globo
Yair Moses' parents were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 terrorist attacks. The mother has already been released, but the father remains in Gaza. He believes the deaths of the three hostages yesterday prove that he and other families are right in calling on the government to focus on the hostages.
“War is important, destroying Hamas is important,” said Yair Moses, son of hostages. “But freeing the hostages is the most important thing and should be a priority.”
At a news conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regretted the deaths of the three hostages but said that Hamas only agreed to release a group of hostages thanks to military pressure.
This weekend, Israeli representatives met with the government of Qatar, the country responsible for mediating that led to the agreement last month.
In the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, children searched through the rubble of a building destroyed by bombings. Suliman says the attack felt like an earthquake.