2023-12-16 22:51:00
The military was the first to admit that “a mistaken identity was killed during combat in the Gaza Strip” and announced, “The fight will continue until Hamas is completely dismantled.”
The Israeli military revealed on the 16th (local time) that when it mistakenly killed three hostages in the Gaza Strip, they were topless and holding a white flag, marking the first time since the war once morest Hamas began that the Israeli military admitted to mistakenly killing hostages.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a subsequent speech to the nation, “I am heartbroken and the whole country is heartbroken, but the Israeli military’s combat operations will continue unchanged.”
He added, “We will still do our best to continue the war until the end. “We will continue our attacks until Hamas is completely dismantled and all of our hostages are rescued,” he said.
As national anger in Israel explodes due to the mistaken killing of a hostage, there are predictions that the Israeli government will resume hostage exchange negotiations with Hamas, which are being mediated by Qatar. 21 Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip were killed.
However, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said there would be no more hostage-prisoner exchanges in the future unless Israel accepted Hamas’ prisoner exchange terms and ended the war. Netanyahu said he would never accept such demands from Hamas.
Many questions are being raised regarding how the three Israeli hostages died. The Palestinian side has already stated on several occasions that the Israeli military fired shots at civilian refugees, and claimed that the previously dead Israeli hostages were also killed by Israeli military bombing or shooting, but did not provide any evidence.
An Israeli military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he might not discuss military affairs, told the Associated Press that the hostages who died were either abandoned by Hamas forces or had escaped from captivity. He also said that the Israeli military’s killing of hostages was an “illegal act under military law” and was currently being investigated with the utmost severity.
Herzi Halevi, commander of the Israeli Armed Forces’ Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued a statement saying, “This shooting occurred in an urgent situation during the battle,” adding that the hostages did everything they might to signal that they were not enemies or threats, but were killed. .
At the same time, he emphasized that in other cases, there would be many hostages who escaped or were abandoned by Hamas, and that the military would fulfill its responsibility to save and rescue them during future battles.
[예루살렘= AP/뉴시스]
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