IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced Friday afternoon that Israeli troops had mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages after mistaking them for enemy combatants during an operation in the Gaza neighborhood of Shejaiya.
“This is an area where the soldiers encountered many terrorists, including suicide bombers,” Hagari said, calling the deaths of the hostages a “tragic incident.”
The spokesman named two of the three casualties as Yotam Haim of Kfar Aza, and Samar Talalka of Rahat, all of whom managed to flee captivity “or were abandoned by the terrorists who held them,” Hagari explained.
The IDF official contextualized the military’s response by highlighting the level of resistance Israeli troops face from Hamas.
“In some cases, suicide bombers were encountered, and also attacks in which terrorists tried to lure our forces and draw them into an ambush. Shortly after the tragic incident, another encounter with terrorists took place near the scene of the incident,” Hagari continued. “The IDF expresses deep sorrow for the disaster and shares in the grief of the families. May their memory be a blessing.”
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