Tel Aviv, Israel CNN —
An investigation is underway following a tragic incident on Friday in which the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza shot and killed three Israelis who had been taken hostage by Hamas during the Hamas terror attack on October 7.
Here's what we know.
The men were killed while waving a white flag, a violation of IDF rules of engagement, an IDF official said Saturday.
The official – who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to speak freely about an ongoing investigation – said the trio was shirtless and waving their flag from a building “tens of meters” from a group of Israeli troops in the Neighborhood of Gaza City Emerged from Shejaiya.
At least one soldier felt threatened and opened fire, killing two of the men instantly. The third was wounded and ran back into the building. The Israeli unit heard a cry for help in Hebrew, after which the brigade commander ordered his troops to stop firing. However, shots were fired again. The third hostage later died.
It was unclear which hostage initially survived and when they were killed, the official added.
According to IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, the Israeli soldiers did not expect to encounter hostages, but assumed they would find them either in a building, in a tunnel or in handcuffs.
At a news conference on Saturday, he said the Israeli military had no information about the three hostages killed by mistake, adding: “This is a mistake and a malfunction.”
According to the IDF, Shejaiya has been the scene of intense fighting in recent days, with Israeli forces facing ambush attempts and attacks involving suicide bombers or plainclothes attackers.
Hagari broke the news about the incident on Friday, calling it “a sad and painful incident.”
Hagari said the IDF believes the three Israelis killed either fled or were abandoned by their captors because of the fighting in Shejaiya.
The IDF is aware that a building marked “SOS” is located just a few hundred feet from where the hostages were shot. Authorities are investigating whether there is a connection between the crime and the prisoners killed on Friday.
Following the accidental killing of the hostages, Israeli soldiers in Gaza are now being asked to “exercise extra caution” when encountering people in civilian clothing, Jonathan Conricus, another IDF spokesman, told CNN.
“We have told our troops to be extra vigilant and to conduct further security clearance before addressing the kinetics of any threat they face on the battlefield,” Conricus said, “but it is a very challenging environment, where our troops are located.” ”
The IDF claimed earlier Friday that Hamas tried to lure Israeli soldiers into a trap using dolls and backpacks with loudspeakers that played sounds crying or speaking Hebrew.
All three hostages were young men. Yotam Haim and Alon Shimriz were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, while Samer Talalka was kidnapped near Kibbutz Nir Am.
Talalka, 25, was a member of Israel's Bedouin community and the oldest of ten children. He lived in the town of Hura and worked with his father and brothers in a chicken hatchery near Kibbutz Nir Am.
On Oct. 7, he was at the chicken hatchery with his father and told his sister in a phone call that he had been injured by terrorist gunfire until the call was disconnected, according to the Israeli Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.
Haim, 28, was a gifted musician and heavy metal fan. He had played drums for 20 years and was scheduled to perform with his band Persephore at a metal music festival in Tel Aviv on October 7th. Yotam last spoke to his family that morning. He told them his house had burned down before he lost contact with them at 10:44 a.m. Shortly afterwards, he was kidnapped by Hamas, according to the family forum.
Less is known about Shimriz, but his family, like those of Talalka and Haim, had spoken publicly about their ordeal
Haim's mother Iris told Israel's Channel 11 earlier this week that she was confident her son would return, even without raising her voice against the government.
“Some people think that if they don’t scream, no one will bring their children back. I tell them: We can do it peacefully and through respectful dialogue. “The kids will come back, I have no doubt about that,” she said.
Some critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu see the killings as evidence that the Israeli government is more concerned with destroying Hamas than with freeing the group's remaining hostages – the two main goals of the military operation in Gaza.
Before news of the deaths of three hostages broke, it was believed that 132 prisoners remained in the Gaza Strip, with 112 believed to be alive, Israeli authorities said Friday.
“The ground invasion is killing the hostages,” Udi Goren, whose cousin was killed by Hamas, told CNN.
03:22 – Source: CNN
The IDF said soldiers killed three Israeli hostages after misidentifying them as a threat
Rallies were held in Tel Aviv on Friday evening demanding immediate action to repatriate the remaining people held in Gaza. During the three-hour demonstration, demonstrators chanted “Everyone now” and temporarily blocked a main road that runs through the city.
“We want to do everything we can to bring the hostages back,” said one. “We call on our government and cabinet to do their best to find more solutions for our friends and family.”
Among the protesters was Noam Tibon, a retired IDF major general who made headlines for personally driving south on Oct. 7 to rescue his family from Hamas militants.
Tibon told CNN that the administration “must announce that repatriating the hostages is the top priority in this war.”
“The clock is ticking and it is against the hostages,” he said.
Netanyahu has been under pressure at home both for failing to anticipate the attacks and for failing to bring the hostages home, but so far there appears to be little interest in removing him given the ongoing conflict.
Mossad director David Barnea met with Qatar's prime minister in Europe this weekend to continue talks on Hamas's release of hostages, a source familiar with the plans told CNN on Sunday.
While the killing of the three hostages added more urgency to the talks, the source said, it was unclear whether the incident would hurt Netanyahu politically or lead to major changes in the government or military.
For the first time since the killings, Israel's longtime prime minister told the Israeli nation on Saturday: “We are in a war for our existence.”
Netanyahu said the war “must continue until victory, despite international pressure and despite the unbearable cost that the war exacts from our fallen sons and daughters.”
04:57 – Source: CNN
“Netanyahu is ruining Israel for his own good”: Former Knesset member
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called her death “a painful incident for every Israeli,” while MP Benny Gantz, a former rival of Netanyahu and now part of a wartime coalition government, said his heart was “shattered after learning of this tragedy.” .
Both leaders indicated that the war would continue. Gallant said Israel “must remain resilient and continue to operate,” while Gantz said the country's responsibility was “to win the war, and part of that victory would be returning the hostages home.”
CNN's Alex Marquardt, Andrew Carey and David Shortell contributed to this report