The three Israeli hostages that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) mistakenly shot and killed in the Gaza Strip were waving a white flag, according to a high-ranking IDF official on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The IDF is currently conducting a sweeping counteroffensive in Gaza against terrorist organization Hamas, which is currently confining more than 100 hostages in Gaza, including Israelis, foreign nationals and American citizens. The shootings carried out by two IDF soldiers breached the Israeli military’s rules of engagement, the official stated, according to the WSJ. (RELATED: Israel Begins Flooding Hamas Tunnel Network With Seawater)
“I’ll say very, very clearly: This was against our rules of engagement,” the official asserted, according to the WSJ. The official classified the deaths as a “tragic, tragic event,” according to CNN.
The IDF shot and killed the hostages as they exited a building without shirts while raising a stick containing a white cloth, according to the official, the WSJ reported.
During combat in Shejaiya, the IDF mistakenly identified 3 Israeli hostages as a threat and as a result, fired toward them and the hostages were killed. 1/1
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 15, 2023
The hostages, who were all men under 30 years old, were in close range of the IDF soldiers as they were fighting in Gaza, according to the WSJ. One of them “felt threatened” and started shooting, quickly killing two of the hostages, according to the IDF official.
Another soldier shot and killed the third hostage despite him yelling out in Hebrew and an order by a commander to stop shooting, the WSJ reported. The hostages may have removed their shirts to display that they were unarmed and not a threat.
“The IDF began reviewing the incident immediately,” the IDF said on Friday. “The IDF emphasizes that this is an active combat zone in which ongoing fighting over the last few days has occurred. Immediate lessons from the event have been learned, which have been passed on to all IDF troops in the field. The IDF expresses deep remorse over the tragic incident and sends the families its heartfelt condolences. Our national mission is to locate the missing and return all the hostages home.”
The IDF did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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