The country is the scene of protests after the army admitted that soldiers mistakenly killed a group of Israelis in the Gaza Strip. “The only way to release the hostages alive is through negotiations,” said the protester. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Tel Aviv this Saturday (December 16) to demand a new agreement to release the Israeli hostages still in the group's hands. Hamas. The protest, in which demonstrators held signs with the names and photos of hostages, was organized after the Israeli army announced on Friday that it had accidentally killed three hostages during an operation in the Gaza Strip.
The deaths of Yotam Haïm (28), Samer alTalalqa (25) and Alon Lulu Shamriz (26) sparked anger and sadness in Israel. Also this Saturday, Israeli authorities admitted that the shooting victims were shirtless and carrying an improvised white flag.
The three men were among about 250 people taken hostage in the unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas terrorists on Israeli soil. According to the authorities, around 1,140 people were killed, most of them civilians. To date, around 129 hostages remain imprisoned in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli spokesman said the hostages appeared in the middle of the combat zone, a few dozen meters away from one of the Israeli soldiers, who identified them as suspicious figures, “felt threatened and opened fire on them.”
According to the spokesman, two of the people died immediately and the third was injured. The latter even ran to a building and “clearly asked for help in Hebrew,” prompting the battalion commander to issue “a ceasefire order.” However, another shot was fired, resulting in the hostage's death.
Following the announcement, authorities reported that they had opened an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the deaths. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lamented an “unbearable tragedy” that plunged “the entire state of Israel into mourning,” while the American government, Israel's ally, spoke in Washington of a “tragic mistake.”
protests
“The only way to release the hostages alive is through negotiations,” said Motti Director, a 66yearold demonstrator who took part in the protests.
“We are here after a shocking night. We demand a deal now,” said Merav Svirsky, whose brother Itay is being held hostage in Gaza.
“A terrible tragedy, I think. An agreement should have been reached much, much earlier. And the lives of all innocent people could have been spared. I think it's a great tragedy in every way what is happening here now,” one of the protesters told Portal.
Raz Ben Ami, 57, a hostage released after 54 days in Gaza, spoke under the slogan “Time is running out!” and told protesters that after leaving captivity, she told the Israeli War Cabinet that the military operations were threatening the lives of the people would put hostages in danger. Her husband Ohad remains under Hamas power.
In late November, a Qatarbrokered deal enabled a weeklong pause in fighting in Gaza and the release of a hundred hostages taken by Hamas and 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, as well as the delivery of emergency humanitarian aid to the enclave's population.
Following the announcement of the deaths of the three hostages, the Axios portal reported that the head of the Mossad (Israeli secret service), David Barnea, is expected to meet with the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed ben Abdelrahmane AlThani, this weekend. The focus of the meeting is expected to be on the issue of hostage release.
Dead journalist
In addition to civilians, journalists also continue to pay a high price in the war in Gaza.
Al Jazeera journalist Samer Abu Daqa died on Friday and the channel's Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, who lost his wife and two of his children early in the war, was wounded in the arm by rocket fragments.
“Yesterday he came to say goodbye […] He hasn't eaten anything. “He died on an empty stomach,” an emotional mother from Abu Daqa told AFPTV this Saturday. Her son was buried in Khan Yunis.
Photographer Mustafa Alkharuf from Turkey's Anadolu News Agency was injured after being beaten by Israeli police in Israelioccupied East Jerusalem.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), more than 60 journalists and media workers have died since the start of the war.
jps (Lusa, Portal, AFP)
Deutsche Welle is Germany's foreign broadcaster and produces independent journalism in 30 languages.