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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 have been inside “tens of metres” of Israeli positions, the official mentioned. An Israeli soldier thought they have been Hamas fighters attempting to lure Israeli troopers right into a lure, and deemed them to be “terrorists,” the army official mentioned.
Two have been killed instantly and the third died as he ran for canopy whereas calling for assist in Hebrew. A army official mentioned that through the capturing the native commander issued a stop hearth order that the troopers didn’t obey.
Their our bodies have been solely examined as a result of one of many hostages had a “western look,” the Ynet media outlet reported, resulting in the realisation that the lifeless males have been hostages. Haim, 28, had pale pores and skin and ginger hair.
The killing of the hostages got here after Palestinian human rights teams documented a number of cases of Gazan civilians waving white flags who have 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 in a while Saturday to repeat their calls for that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have interaction 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 just lately launched hostage, Raz Ben-Ami, mentioned the federal government should have interaction in one other spherical of prisoner-for-hostage exchanges instantly.
“10 days in the past I warned Cupboard members that the combating might hurt the hostages,” she mentioned. “I begged them and warned that the combating might hurt the hostages. Sadly I used to be proper.”
The IDF’s chief of employees, Herzi Halevi, mentioned he took accountability for his or her deaths, and that whereas Israeli troopers in Gaza have been working beneath tough and unpredictable conditions, the choice to open hearth on shirtless males carrying a white flag contravened the present guidelines of engagement.
“However these photographs have been carried out throughout fight and beneath stress,” he mentioned. “Immediately, the complexity of our simply conflict in Gaza was revealed.”
Israel stepped up army operations on the japanese 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 college getting used to shelter displaced Gazans.
The French authorities on Saturday mentioned a overseas ministry worker had died from accidents sustained throughout an Israeli bombing in Gaza on Wednesday. He had taken refuge with a colleague from the French consulate.
“France condemns this bombing of a residential constructing which induced the demise of many different civilians,” the overseas ministry mentioned in a press release, calling on Israel to elucidate the circumstances of the bombing.
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 have been launched throughout a Qatar-brokered swap by which three Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have been freed for each Israeli hostage — principally girls and youngsters — let loose.
That change happened beneath a truce that allowed an inflow of humanitarian help into the besieged enclave. A lot of the coastal strip’s 2.3mn inhabitants have been displaced to southern Gaza, with little clear water, meals or drugs of their tent cities and UN shelters.
David Barnea, the pinnacle 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 attainable take care of Hamas to safe the discharge of the hostages. Hamas has labeled many of the remaining hostages as Israeli troopers.
Netanyahu mentioned Saturday the primary spherical of hostage releases solely happened due to Israel’s army stress on Hamas, and vowed to proceed the conflict to assist launch the remainder. “The instruction I’m giving the negotiating workforce is based on this stress, with out which now we have nothing,” he mentioned.
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 have been constructive however progress was sluggish, an individual briefed on the discussions mentioned. It’s the first time Barnea has met the Qatari prime minister since December 2.
Extra reporting by Sarah White