Jerusalem:
Israeli soldiers ignored cries for “help” as they stormed a Gaza building holding three hostages just days before accidentally killing them, a military investigation published Thursday said.
The soldiers also heard shouting “hostages” in Hebrew on December 10, but interpreted that as a “terrorist deception attempt” by Hamas operatives to lure them into the building in Gaza City's Shejaiya district, the investigation said.
Believing the building to be packed with explosives, the soldiers left the building and killed five Hamas operatives who tried to escape.
The hostages then also likely fled the building and on December 15, Israeli soldiers shot them after wrongly identifying them as a threat, the investigation said.
Two were killed instantly. The third hostage fled and soldiers were ordered to hold fire to identify him, the investigation said.
Hearing cries of “help!” and “they are shooting at me,” Israeli commanders asked the surviving hostage to advance toward the soldiers.
But two soldiers “who did not hear the order” due to “noise” from a nearby tank shot him dead.
The three hostages were all shirtless and one carried a white flag.
On December 14, an army drone had identified signs of “SOS” and “help, three hostages” on a building near where the three hostages were shot.
The army “failed in its mission to rescue the hostages in this event,” army chief Herzi Halevi said in a statement published along with the investigation's report.
The three fatalities “could have been prevented,” he added.
Shortly after the hostage killings were announced, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it “broke my heart” and “broke the heart of the entire nation.”
Israel mourns the deaths of the hostages identified as Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer El-Talalqa.
The killings of the three men, all in their 20s, sparked protests in Tel Aviv, where demonstrators demanded that authorities come up with a new plan to bring home the remaining 129 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip .
About 250 people were taken hostage during Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli figures.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and return the hostages and launched a full-scale military offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement, which has left much of Gaza in ruins.
The Hamas government in the area says the war has killed at least 21,320 people, mostly women and children.
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