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The Israeli military misidentified shirtless male hostages waving a white flag in Gaza and shot all three in violation of its guidelines of engagement, a army official mentioned on Saturday.
The killing of Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer Talalka, who’re presumed to have escaped from Hamas captivity, is being investigated by the Israel Protection Forces.
The hostages had been inside “tens of metres” of Israeli positions, the official mentioned. An Israeli soldier thought they had been Hamas fighters making an attempt to lure Israeli troopers right into a lure, and deemed them to be “terrorists,” the army official mentioned.
Two had been killed instantly and the third died as he ran for canopy whereas calling for assist in Hebrew. A army official mentioned that in the course of the taking pictures the native commander issued a stop fireplace order that the troopers didn’t obey.
The killing of the hostages got here after Palestinian human rights teams documented a number of situations of Gazan civilians waving white flags who had been shot by Israeli troopers.
Hamas has mentioned {that a} handful of different hostages have been killed in Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza, which President Joe Biden described final week as “indiscriminate”. Israel has killed greater than 18,000 Palestinians in its floor invasion and bombing of Gaza, in accordance with Palestinian well being officers.
The households of the roughly 130 hostages nonetheless held by Hamas are planning to protest in Tel Aviv afterward Saturday to repeat their calls for that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu interact in negotiations to safe the discharge of their kinfolk. The federal government maintains that weakening Hamas militarily will end result within the hostages’ freedom.
A not too long ago launched hostage, Raz Ben-Ami, mentioned the federal government should interact in one other spherical of prisoner-for-hostage exchanges instantly.
“10 days in the past I warned Cupboard members that the preventing might hurt the hostages,” she mentioned. “I begged them and warned that the preventing might hurt the hostages. Sadly I used to be proper.”
The IDF’s chief of employees, Herzi Halevi, mentioned he took duty for his or her deaths, and that whereas Israeli troopers in Gaza had been working below tough and unpredictable conditions, the choice to open fireplace on shirtless males carrying a white flag contravened the present guidelines of engagement.
“However these pictures had been carried out throughout fight and below stress,” he mentioned. “Right away, the complexity of our simply battle in Gaza was revealed.”
Netanyahu known as the killing of the three males “an insufferable tragedy”. He added: “Even on this tough night, we’ll costume our wounds, be taught the required classes and proceed with our supreme effort to return all our hostages house safely.”
Israel stepped up army operations on the jap fringe of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, with each bombings and firefights reported within the cities of Shejaiya and Khan Younis. An Al Jazeera cameraman was killed and the correspondent wounded in a drone strike at a faculty getting used to shelter displaced Gazans.
Hamas took about 240 individuals hostage on October 7 throughout a cross-border raid that killed 1,200 individuals in Israel, in accordance with the Israeli authorities. Dozens had been launched throughout a Qatar-brokered swap wherein three Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails had been freed for each Israeli hostage — largely girls and youngsters — let loose.
That trade happened below a truce that allowed an inflow of humanitarian support into the besieged enclave. Many of the coastal strip’s 2.3mn inhabitants have been displaced to southern Gaza, with little clear water, meals or medication of their tent cities and UN shelters.
David Barnea, the top of Israel’s Mossad intelligence company, met Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Friday night time in Europe in a bid to revive talks over a doable cope with Hamas to safe the discharge of the hostages. Hamas has categorized a lot of the remaining hostages as Israeli troopers.
Hamas has mentioned that their launch would require Israel to free many, if not all, of the greater than 7,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The talks had been optimistic however progress was gradual, an individual briefed on the discussions mentioned. It’s the first time Barnea has met the Qatari prime minister since December 2.
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