SOS signs found on killed hostages hideout, Israeli military says
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People hold signs as they protest following the announcement that Israel's military had mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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JERUSALEM - Signs reading "SOS" and "help, three hostages" in Hebrew were found on the walls of a Gaza building where three Israeli hostages had been hiding before they were mistakenly killed,
The military distributed photographs of the white cloth signs written in red, likely with leftover food. They were hung on a building about 200 metres from where the hostages were shot, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
The Israeli military on Friday identified the three hostages killed in Shejaiya, an eastern suburb of Gaza City, as Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz, abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Samer Al-Talalka, abducted from nearby Kibbutz Nir Am.
It said they had raised a white flag and were shirtless when shot, against Israel's rules of engagement. Israel's military chief told troops inside Gaza not to repeat that mistake.
The Israeli military is investigating the deaths.
"What if it is two Gazans with a white flag coming out to surrender, do we shoot them? Absolutely not," said Chief of the General Staff Major-General Herzi Halevi. "Even those who are fighting us, if they lay down their arms and raise their hands, we arrest them, we don't shoot them," he added.
As Shamriz was laid to rest on Dec 17, his mother Dikla stood over his flag-draped coffin.
"My child, you were strong, determined, smart. You were a hero. You survived 70 days in hell. I know you felt us all the time, the way we felt you. Another moment and you would have been in my arms," she said, as many family and friends wept.
Shamriz’s brother accused the army of having “abandoned” and “murdered” him.
“Those who abandoned you also murdered you after all that you did right,” Ido, Shamriz’s brother, said at the funeral attended by dozens of relatives and family members north of Tel Aviv.
More than 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, held incommunicado despite Israeli calls for Red Cross access.
In a deal struck in late November, more than 100 women, children, teens and foreigners were released. Other hostages have been declared dead by Israeli authorities.
Hamas militants rampaged through Israeli towns on Oct 7,
Israeli forces have taken more than 1,000 people captive in the war against Hamas in Gaza, Israel's military chief said.
"We get a lot of intelligence from the captives we have, we already have over a thousand," Halevi said in a video distributed by the military. REUTERS, AFP
