1 of 2 | A screen shows pictures of Alon Shamriz, one of three Israeli hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli Defense Forces on Friday, as supporters and relatives attended a meeting of the European Parliament in Brussels on Dec. 5. File Photo by Olivier Matthys/EPA-EFE
Dec. 16 (UPI) — Three escaped hostages who were mistakenly killed by Israeli soldiers were shirtless and waving a stick with a white piece of fabric when they were shot, military investigators said Saturday.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesman also confirmed to the Times and Israel and the BBC an initial probe of Friday’s incident has shown the three men were running towards Israeli soldiers when they were shot by mistake in the streets of Gaza City.
Israel has opened an investigation into the incident, to see if its soldiers followed the country’s rules of engagement in combat.
The trio were being held captive by Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave and were only “tens of meters from one of our forces’ positions” when they were shot, the spokesman told i24 News.
The IDF identified the three men as Yotam Haim, 28, Samer Talalka, 22, and Alon Shamriz, 26.
Israeli officials said the men were either abandoned by Hamas militants or managed to escape. Two were killed immediately while the third was wounded and took shelter in the ruins of a nearby building, later killed by additional gunfire.
The IDF official said that at the time, Israeli “forces were under pressure” with Hamas fighters engaged in “a lot of deception.”
More than 100 Israelis are still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza following the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israeli citizens.
A senior Israeli military official told the Times of Israel that IDF soldiers had recently encountered Hamas members who appeared to be unarmed, only to later learn they were wearing suicide vests.
