The three Israeli hostages killed by Israeli forces in Gaza on Friday came out of a building shirtless and were carrying a makeshift white flag when they were shot, the military said Saturday.
The disturbing details of her death sparked widespread concern in Israel and led to renewed calls for another temporary ceasefire and an agreement allowing the release of more hostages. Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevy, Israel's military chief of staff, said the three hostages “did everything to make us understand” that they were harmless, including taking off their shirts to show they were not carrying explosives.
Nevertheless, Israeli troops shot them dead, an incident that shocked a country already deeply concerned about the fate of its remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip. He said the shooting violated the military's rules of engagement.
“It is forbidden to shoot at those who raise a white flag and want to surrender,” General Halevy said, adding: “The Israel Defense Forces and I as their commander are responsible for what happened.”
Protesters in Tel Aviv and relatives of the hostages expressed anger over the killings and urged the government to focus on striking another hostage-for-prisoner deal with Hamas rather than continuing a full-scale offensive in Gaza.
Amid growing outrage, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation on television late Saturday and expressed his condolences for the families of the slain hostages. “It broke my heart,” he said. “It broke the hearts of the entire country.”
However, he made it clear that he would neither reduce nor stop the air and ground campaigns. He called the conflict “a war for our existence” and argued that maintaining military action was necessary to persuade Hamas to release more hostages.
“With all our sadness, I want to make it clear: military pressure is crucial both to the repatriation of the hostages and to the victory over our enemies,” he said.
The Israeli military announced the accidental killings on Friday, just hours after it said it had recovered the bodies of three more Israeli hostages in Gaza. The deaths underscore the ongoing risks to the more than 120 people who Israel says remain in captivity after being abducted during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
In a written statement describing the results of a preliminary investigation, the Israeli military said its soldiers had operated in Shejaiye, an area of Gaza City where heavy fighting had taken place. Earlier this week, at least nine Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting in the neighborhood as the military tried to root out Palestinian militants.
On Friday, soldiers were on high alert because Hamas was trying to ambush Israeli forces, possibly in civilian clothes, while they were patrolling the area, the military said.
The three hostages emerged shirtless from a building several dozen meters away from the Israeli soldiers, carrying a stick with a white cloth in their hands, the military revealed after preliminary investigations. One of the soldiers, believing they posed a threat, opened fire on the three hostages, killing two of them and wounding the third, the initial investigation found.
The third hostage fled into the building, from which a cry for help in Hebrew could be heard. The battalion commander ordered the forces to cease fire. But the wounded hostage later resurfaced and was then fatally shot, the military statement said.
In a briefing with reporters, an Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military protocol, said the hostages may have escaped or been abandoned by their captors.
The military identified the three men killed Friday as Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz, both abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Samer Talalka, who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Am, all in southern Israel near the Gaza border.
“This is a sad and painful incident for all of us,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, said Friday. He promised “complete transparency” as the military investigates how the tragedy unfolded and said the Israel Defense Forces bore “responsibility for everything that happened.”
Victoria Kim contributed reporting.
—Aaron Boxerman and Ronen Bergman