The hostages, all of whom have been civilians, in all probability had both escaped or have been deserted by their captors earlier than they tried to make their means towards an Israel Protection Forces place within the Gaza Metropolis neighborhood of Shejaiya on Friday, based on the official, who declined to be named according to the foundations of the briefing.
They emerged “tens of meters” from the place Israeli troops have been stationed, he mentioned. “They’re all with out shirts and so they have a stick to a white fabric on it,” the official defined, including {that a} single soldier “felt threatened” and opened hearth.
The deaths underscore the perilous dangers for civilians in Gaza, together with Palestinian residents and the greater than 100 hostages believed to be nonetheless alive contained in the territory.
The USA, Israel’s closest ally, and others have known as on Israel to cut back its navy operations in Gaza over fears of widespread hurt to civilians. The offensive has killed greater than 18,700 individuals in Gaza, based on the Gaza Well being Ministry.
Some Israelis have additionally expressed concern that the marketing campaign — together with air and floor assaults — might endanger the hostages held by Hamas and different militant teams, because the whereabouts of many, if not all, of the captives stay unknown.
The lifeless hostages have been recognized by the IDF as Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz of Kibbutz Kfar Aza and Samer Al-Talalka of Kibbutz Nir Am — all kidnapped on Oct. 7 when Hamas led a shock assault inside Israel, killing at the very least 1,200 individuals.
The IDF mentioned it “expresses deep regret over the tragic incident and sends the households its heartfelt condolences.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu known as the incident an “insufferable tragedy.”
The triple killing sparked an outpouring of anger amongst households of the hostages, with protesters gathering in Tel Aviv on Friday night time. Haim Rubinstein, a spokesman for the hostages’ households, mentioned members of Israel’s warfare cupboard had not spoken to them for the reason that capturing of the three Israelis, the Occasions of Israel reported Saturday.
“Regardless of the heavy catastrophe, nobody from the warfare cupboard has spoken to the households, nobody has defined the best way to stop the subsequent catastrophe, nobody,” he mentioned.
Two of the hostages have been killed instantly when the soldier opened hearth Friday, the navy official mentioned, whereas one was injured and ran inside a constructing. As troopers entered it, “a cry for assist” was heard in Hebrew and the battalion commander issued an order to stop hearth, the official mentioned. However there was “one other burst of fireplace” and the third hostage was killed.
“This was in opposition to our guidelines of engagement,” the official mentioned, including that there’s a preliminary investigation occurring on the “highest degree” and that copies of the foundations of engagement are being redistributed amongst IDF troops.
The navy didn’t reply to a request for particulars of the foundations of engagement.
On Saturday, an Al Jazeera journalist who was wounded in a drone strike that additionally killed his cameraman mentioned the Israeli navy had accepted their journey to the location that was subsequently struck within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis.
Talking dwell on the community, Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh mentioned he and his cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, had traveled with civil protection rescuers on Friday to go to a faculty that had come underneath assault. Nonetheless sporting bandages over his wounds, Dahdouh mentioned that after their place was hit, he might hear Abu Daqqa screaming however couldn’t assist him due to his personal accidents and returned to the ambulance to lift the alarm.
He was then taken to the Nasser Hospital in central Khan Younis, Dahdouh mentioned. Al Jazeera on Friday blamed the casualties on an Israeli drone strike and mentioned IDF troops prevented rescuers from reaching Abu Daqqa, who was “left to bleed to dying for over 5 hours,” the community mentioned.
The Qatar-based channel mentioned it “holds Israel accountable for systematically focusing on and killing Al Jazeera journalists and their households” — a cost the IDF denied.
“The IDF takes all operationally possible measures to guard each civilians and journalists. The IDF has by no means, and can by no means, intentionally goal journalists,” it mentioned in an announcement Saturday.
Pietsch reported from Washington. Victoria Bisset in London, Andrew Jeong in Seoul, Miriam Berger in Jerusalem and Itay Stern in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.