(CNN) — The father of one of the hostages killed by Israeli forces inside Gaza accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “cowardice for not calling him or visiting him to offer his condolences.”
The statements of Avi Shimrez, Alon’s 26-year-old father, came to Israel’s Channel 13 after new details were revealed about how his son and two other men were killed. He said: “The prime minister does not dare to make a phone call. He did not call and will not come here,” in comparison to Defense Minister Yoav Galant, whom he said he called twice.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu visited the mother of one of the dead hostages, Iris Haim, who lost her son Yotam in the same incident.
Shimrez expressed his deep frustration when he learned that Israeli soldiers were able to kill the Hamas fighters who were holding the three hostages and come close to collecting intelligence that could have saved them. He said: “This shows the extent of the mistake. There is a serious mistake.”
He continued: “The shooter should not have opened fire, and if he was a real fighter, he should have known that you only pull the trigger when you are sure that he is a terrorist.”
He said that “the commanders failed to inform the soldiers about the possible presence of hostages in the area,” and added that “photos of the hostages should have been distributed so that the soldiers could identify them,” but he acknowledged that the forces in the field were facing “difficult circumstances.”
He stated: “I cannot file a complaint with our forces because they faced different situations where Hamas tried to ambush them and they suffered losses.”
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2023-12-21 01:45:19
