Amid surging 'friendly fire' reports, IOF 'mistakenly' kill 3 captives

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
16 Dec 2023 00:06

The spokesperson for the Israeli occupation army says the military "bears responsibility for everything that happened."

Israeli occupation soldiers stand with their gear at a position close to the border with the Gaza Strip on December 14, 2023. (AFP)

The Israeli occupation military stated that its troops shot and killed three captives held by the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza on Friday during battles in al-Shujaiya after "mistakenly" identifying them as a threat.

"Immediate lessons from the event have been learned," it claimed in a statement.

The occupation military identified the captives as Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz, both taken from Kibbutz "Kfar Aza" during the Palestinian Resistance's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, in addition to Samer el-Talalqa, who was taken from Kibbutz "Nir Am".

"This is an unbearable tragedy," Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement commenting on his troops' latest flop.

The spokesperson for the Israeli occupation army, Daniel Hagari, said the military "bears responsibility for everything that happened."

The White House on Friday said the killing of the three captives in Gaza by the Israeli military was a "tragic mistake".

"We don't have perfect visibility on exactly how this operation unfolded and how this tragic mistake was made," spokesperson John Kirby said.

Israeli media reported that the families of the captives have begun protesting now at the entrance of the Ministry of Security and the Chief of Staff headquarters in "Tel Aviv", following the announcement.

In a related context, Israeli media considered on Friday that the Israeli occupation entity "remains far from a decisive resolution" in the Gaza Strip.

Amnon Abramovich, a political analyst for the Israeli Channel 12, believed that the problem lies in "the slogans of politicians or lofty goals, which must be divided into two: the release of prisoners and Hamas not being the authority in Gaza."

Touching on the situation of the war, according to Abramovich, the images in the media "always appear more optimistic," affirming that "Israel" is still "far from a decisive resolution."

The Israeli analyst pointed out that most of the areas in southern Gaza are relatively calm, adding that the Israeli forces in Khan Younis only reached the perimeter and not the central camps there.

Abramovich pointed to "pockets of resistance" in the north, in addition to the military events on the northern borders and in maritime routes.