The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that an internal investigation into an incident in which three Israeli hostages were shot by the country's military in Gaza City on December 15 found that “one of them was waving a white flag in poor visibility conditions “I was hit with shots before he was killed.
“On December 15, 2023, during intense days of fighting in Shejaiya, an IDF soldier shot at three people identified as threats, hitting two of the hostages killed. The third person fled,” the IDF said.
“The commanders gave the order to cease fire to identify the third figure. After about 15 minutes, the battalion commander heard Hebrew cries of “Help” and “They are shooting at me” and gave additional orders to cease fire and shout in Hebrew, “Come toward us.” “The figure emerged from a building onto the Armed forces too. Two soldiers, not hearing the order due to the noise of a nearby tank, shot and killed the third hostage,” the IDF continued.
“From the study and analysis of the findings and aerial photographs of the area, it emerged that the hostages were shirtless and one of them was waving a white flag and standing in a point of limited visibility relative to the position of the soldier who fired the shot,” the IDF added.
The Israeli military said in the days before the incident: “A note with the words 'Help' written in Hebrew was found at the exit of a terror tunnel in the Shejaiya area” as well as an “ID card of a Hamas operative.” But the troops believed it was an attempt by Hamas to ambush them.
The day before the incident, “signs reading “SOS” and “Help, 3 hostages” were then identified through drone footage on a building 200 meters from where the hostages were killed, in areas targeted by forces in Shejaiya area were spotted, so it was suspected that it was a trap,” the IDF also said.
The IDF concluded that “the investigation revealed that the command had information about the presence of hostages in the Shejaiya area and had even taken measures to prevent attacks on locations suspected of being there hostages were located,” but “in this case there was no information about either the building where the hostages were located.”
“The entire chain of command feels responsible for this difficult event, regrets this outcome and shares the grief of the families of the three hostages,” the IDF said.