Israel’s military “failed in its mission” to rescue three hostages mistakenly killed by its troops in Gaza earlier this month, its chief of the general staff said Thursday, as the military published the findings of its investigation.
The findings concluded that Israeli command ranks had information that hostages were present in the area, and “even took actions to prevent strikes on locations suspected of having hostages,” the report read.
But the investigation also concluded the Israeli forces in the field had “insufficient awareness” of the possibility that hostages would approach them or that the troops would encounter hostages in operations not specifically aimed at freeing them.
Yotam Haim, Alon Shimriz and Samer Talalka were kidnapped by Hamas militants during their attack on Israel on October 7. The three men were killed during an IDF operation around the Gaza City neighborhood of Shejaiya on December 15.
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That day, according to the findings, an Israeli soldier fired toward three hostages “identified as threats,” killing two of them. The third hostage fled, and the battalion commander gave an order to hold fire to identify the third person.
After the commander heard someone screaming “help” in Hebrew, he called on the person to come toward the soldiers; the hostage emerged from a building and moved toward the troops, the report said. Two soldiers didn’t hear the commander’s orders to hold fire “due to noise from a nearby tank” and fatally shot the third hostage, according to the investigation.
The probe also concluded that the “hostages were walking shirtless, and one of them was waving a white flag, standing at a point with limited visibility relative to the position of the soldier that fired the shot.”
Israeli military Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said the shootings “could have been prevented” but he determined there was “no malice in the event, and the soldiers carried out the right action to the best of their understanding of the event at that moment.”
In the days before the killing of the three hostages, the report said Israeli soldiers heard cries for help in Hebrew coming from a building while Israeli soldiers fought Hamas gunmen. The soldiers thought it was an attempt to trap them, the report said.
A camera mounted on a military dog during the fight also captured the voices of the hostages crying for help. That same day, a note reading “Help” in Hebrew was found at the exit of a tunnel, the report claims, which Israeli soldiers interpreted as an attempt by Hamas to lure them.
On December 14, Israeli drone footage identified signs reading “SOS” and “Help, 3 hostages” on a building 200 meters from where the three hostages were killed the next day, the report says.
The report claims that the Israeli military suspected this was a trap after blue barrels were spotted nearby that it said are commonly found in rigged areas.
Halevi concluded the killing of the hostages shouldn’t have happened and didn’t match the risk of the situation.
“The standard operating procedures are necessary, and they are also intended to protect us, so that we do not kill our own forces. They set and impact fateful decisions, as happened in this event,” he said.