Amid Israel's expanding ground offensive in Gaza strip the Israeli military has completed its investigation into the "mistaken" killing of three Israeli hostages, the screams for help in Hebrew of whom were seen as a "terrorist deception attempt".
Israeli military, announcing the result of its investigation on this December 15 incident, said the event “should not have occurred” and could have been prevented but took no disciplinary action.
Meanwhile, a Hamas official said on Thursday that a "partial or temporary cessation of aggression" wouldn't be enough to free the over 100 hostages who Israel says remain in captivity in Gaza.
Israel-Gaza Conflict Day 84 | Latest Updates
-Israel Kills 3 Hostages 'Mistakenly': Three hostages , Yotam Haim, 28, Samer Al-Talalka, 25 and Alon Shamriz, were mistakenly shot by Israeli forces on December 15 after exiting a building in a Gaza City neighbourhood where intense battles had taken place.
Giving details of its investigation on Thursday, Israel army confirmed initial reports that the men had emerged from the building shirtless and waving a white flag, what was a bid to signal they posed no threat.
Two men were killed immediately, while the third ran back into the building screaming for help in Hebrew, a news agency AP report mentioned. The commander issued an order to cease-fire, but another round of gunfire killed the third man.
Israel army said that complex battle conditions, limited visibility and noise from nearby tanks prevented troops from hearing their commanders' instructions and contributed to the fatal event. “The fighting creates many complex and difficult situations,” the report quoted army spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari saying at a news conference.
-Hamas Says Temporary Cessation of Aggression Not Enough: A Hamas official said on Thursday that a "partial or temporary cessation of aggression" wouldn't be enough to release over 100 hostages who Israel says remain in captivity in Gaza.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group is not interested in a “partial or temporary cessation of aggression” and reiterated its official position that the remaining hostages who have been held in Gaza since October 7 incursion into Israel would only be released after a permanent ceasefire is implemented.
So far, the Israeli-Hamas war has driven around 85 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million people out of their homes, levelled the northern part of the territory and heightening fears about a similar fate for the south amid Israel's expainding air and ground offensive.
More than 21,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants among the dead.
-Israeli Kibbutz Announces Death of American-Canadian-Israeli Hostage: An Israeli kibbutz has announced the death of an American-Canadian-Israeli woman who was believed to be held hostage in Gaza. A kibbutz is a type of settlement which is unique to Israel.
The death of Judith Weinstein was announced days after her husband, Gad Haggai, was also declared dead. Weinstein, 70, and Haggai, 73, were taking an early morning walk in Kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of Octover 7 when Hamas militants burst across the border into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 others.
Weinstein and her husband had been thought to be among the hostages still in captivity in Gaza. But six days ago, the kibbutz announced that Haggai was killed on October 7 and his body was taken to Gaza.
-What Happened on October 7: Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that has been designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States, infiltrated from the Gaza Strip into bordering areas in Israel under what the outfit later termed was ‘Operation Al Aqsa Flood’. Many purported videos on the internet showed Hamas entering Israel in vehicles like pickup trucks, boats, and even with motorised paragliders to breach the security barrier and attack Israeli towns, residents, and military posts. This escalated into a full blown war between the two sides after Israel’s Netanyahu vowed to exact a price for the October 7 massacre.
-What Led to October 7 Attack: While there have been smaller conflicts between Hamas and Israelis, there were no major engagements between the two sides since the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis. Some reports cited anonymous source "close to Hamas" claiming that the outfit reduced military activity in a bid to deceive Israel into believing Hamas was not a threat.
