Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers mistakenly killed three Israelis who were kidnapped by militants of the Hamas terrorist group. The IDF published a message about this on its official Telegram channel on Friday, December 15.
According to the statement, the incident occurred during fighting in the Shejai area in the northern Gaza Strip – the IDF has been conducting an offensive in the area since December 13. During searches and inspections after the fighting, suspicions arose about the identities of the three people killed by the IDF, the statement on the incident said. Their bodies were transported to Israel, where identification confirmed that they were Israelis kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attack on Israel.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli army announced the discovery of the bodies of three other Hamas hostages in the Gaza Strip. One of them was kidnapped at the Supernova festival, and the other two were Israeli soldiers. Their bodies were returned to their homeland. The deaths of at least five more Hamas hostages were confirmed in early December.
The IDF informed the families of the killed hostages of their deaths.
The Israeli Defense Forces named the dead Israelis: Samer Talalk, abducted from Kibbutz Nir Am, and Yotam Chaim and Alon Shamritz, abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
According to IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, the Israeli Defense Forces “bear responsibility for everything that happened” and expresses remorse and deep condolences to the families of the victims. An appropriate investigation will be conducted.
The agency emphasizes that the tragedy occurred “in the area of active hostilities, where fighting has been going on in recent days.” Immediate lessons were learned from the incident, and information about the incident will be shared with other units of the Israeli army, the IDF assured.
Also, as Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said in an interview with the American TV channel CNN, the Israeli military received an order “to be especially careful when meeting people in civilian clothes.” It is not yet clear how the incident occurred, he added. Against this background, the spokesperson also noted that many militants of the Islamist Hamas movement fought against the Israeli army in civilian clothes.
Israel intends to fight Hamas until the group is completely destroyed.
A few days earlier, the IDF began pumping seawater into the Hamas terrorist tunnel complex in the Gaza Strip. The operation, which could last several weeks, is supposed to flood the tunnels where militants hide ammunition and destroy terrorist infrastructure.
At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that the country intends to continue the fight against the radical Islamist group “until victory.” “Nothing will stop us,” the prime minister said in an address to the IDF. At the same time, Netanyahu called on Hamas militants to surrender, as what is happening is “the beginning of the end” of the group.
IDF spokesperson Conricus also confirmed his determination to fight Hamas to the end. “Such a sad event will not shake our resolve or distract us from our clear goal of destroying Hamas,” Conricus emphasized.
