Credit, Hostage and Missing Families Forum
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From left to right: Alon Shamriz, Yotam Haim and Samer Talalka
December 16, 2023
Demonstrators took to the streets in Tel Aviv to protest after three Israelis held hostage in Gaza were killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The military admitted shooting the men as they emerged from a building with a stick and a piece of white cloth.
According to IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, soldiers considered them a “threat.”
Israeli attacks on Gaza resumed in early December after a sevenday ceasefire in which more than 100 hostages were released by Hamas in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
The hostages
The three dead were identified as Yotam Haim (28), Samer Talalka (22) and Alon Shamriz (26).
They were in Shejaiya, north of Gaza, when they were murdered, but their bodies were transferred to Israeli territory for investigation.
Inbar Haiman, a 27yearold Israeli hostage who was kidnapped on October 7, was killed by Hamas, according to the Forum for Families of Hostages and Missing Persons.
Inbar, a street performer and art student, was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival in Israel and taken to Gaza.
Days later, she was seen with blood on her face in a hostage video that circulated on social media.
Inbar's friends and family campaigned for her release using the hashtag #FreePink, a nod to her name as a street artist.
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Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths an “unbearable tragedy”
Yotam Haim, abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, was a musician, loved animals and cooked Italian food.
On the morning of the Hamas attack, he called his family and told them his house was on fire. As he opened the window to breathe, Yotam was kidnapped.
Speaking to the BBC before her son's death, Yotam's mother said they exchanged messages while both hiding in their respective accommodations before losing contact.
Alon Shamriz was also in Kfar Aza at the time of the attack. Although his name was not initially released, his family later gave permission to reveal his identity.
Samer Talalka, a motorcycle enthusiast who loved traveling in the countryside and spending time with friends, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Am.
He lived in the town of Hura and worked on a chicken farm in the kibbutz. On the morning of October 7th, Talalka was working. After the attack, he called his sister and told her he had been injured by gunfire.
His father told local media that the family lost contact with him at 7 a.m. that day. A photo of him being taken to Gaza was then shared on Telegram.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths of the three men an “unbearable tragedy.”
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March in Tel Aviv
protests
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv on Friday evening (December 15) and marched to a military base with signs and candles.
Protest participants are calling on the Israeli government to negotiate an agreement to release the hostages. But Israeli authorities say military pressure is the only way to bring them home.
This Saturday (December 16th) people gathered for another popular demonstration in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
The square in front of the museum became a symbol of the agonizing wait for the families of those abducted by Hamas and eventually became known as Hostage Square.
Posted on posts and walls were posters with the faces of the hostages kidnapped 70 days ago, along with the words: “Bring them home now.”
Since the end of a temporary ceasefire that allowed the release of around 100 prisoners, families have been urging the government to reach a new agreement with Hamas so that at least some of the remaining hostages can be released.
What happened?
The IDF on Saturday announced details of the deaths of the three hostages in Shejaiya, northern Gaza.
According to a military officer, one of his soldiers saw the hostages coming out of a building shirtless, holding a stick with a white cloth tied to it.
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Protest in front of the Israeli Ministry of Defense
The soldier said he felt threatened and opened fire, believing the men were terrorists. Two hostages were killed instantly and one was injured and ran back into the building.
The soldiers then heard a cry for help in Hebrew, “and immediately the battalion commander issued a ceasefire order.”
However, the official said that the soldiers then opened fire again and that the third hostage also died.
According to him, the three hostages may have been “abandoned or escaped.”
“I say that very, very clearly. That was against our rules of engagement. I repeat, it was against our rules of engagement,” the official said.
He called the deaths “very tragic” and said a preliminary investigation was underway “at the highest level.”
He also said that “all rules of engagement will be resent to all forces.”
The spokesman also stated that hundreds of meters from where the three hostages were accidentally killed, there was a building with the inscription “SOS”.
“We are still trying to figure out if there is a connection between this building and the hostages,” he said.