On Friday, the army announced that it had killed 3 hostages held by Hamas in the Shujaiya neighborhood, after mistakenly determining that they posed a threat, confirming the opening of a transparent investigation into the incident.
In the details of the findings of a preliminary investigation, the Times of Israel quoted a senior officer in the Southern Command as saying that the three dead hostages “managed to escape from Hamas captivity.”
According to the source, “the incident began after a soldier stationed in a building identified 3 suspicious people coming out of another building dozens of meters away. The three were without shirts, and one of them was carrying a stick with a white flag on it.”
He continued: “The soldier thought that the men’s movement towards him was an attempt by Hamas to set a trap for Israeli army soldiers, so he immediately opened fire and shouted: Terrorists.”
According to the preliminary investigation, the soldier killed two of the hostages, while the third fled wounded to the building from which he came.
The officer who wrote the story added: “At that point, the Israeli battalion commander, who was in the location from which the soldier fired, came out and asked his forces to stop the attack.”
But “in the meantime, forces in the area heard the voice of someone shouting in Hebrew: Help.”
The officer added: “Moments later, the third hostage left the building to which he had fled, and another soldier opened fire on him, killing him.”
According to the preliminary investigation, “the battalion commander then realized that the appearance of the third man was unusual, and it turned out that he was an Israeli hostage.”
“The soldiers collected the three bodies and transported them to Israel to identify them.”
The officer admitted that “the soldier who opened fire immediately after identifying the three men did so in violation of protocols, and so did the second soldier who killed the third man, according to the officer.”
However, the IDF said it “understands why the soldiers did this.”
The officer added: “Several hundred meters away, the forces found a building with paint on the wall with the SOS signal written on it, and a sign reading: Help. 3 hostages.”
He said, “The soldiers thought at the time that the building was booby-trapped, and now the army is investigating the possibility of this sign being related to the incident.”
The Times of Israel explained that the preliminary investigation was completed on Saturday, and its results were presented to the families of the three dead.
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2023-12-16 12:22:27
