According to a preliminary investigation by the Israeli army, the three hostages who were killed by Tel Aviv soldiers in Gaza during clashes with Hamas had raised a stick with a piece of white cloth . A Tel Aviv army source said this in a briefing with journalists.
According to the same investigation, the troops in action therefore "did not follow the army's rules of engagement".
In recent hours, a spokesperson for the armed forces of the Jewish state had disclosed the first details on the affair, hypothesizing that it had been a "tragic mistake".
Based on the reconstruction of what happened during the action, in Shujaia, in the center of the Gaza Strip, one of the soldiers who was on the building in front of the three " felt threatened" and shot towards the group . "Two hostages were hit and fell to the ground, while the third - added a source - managed to escape into a nearby building."
The army source then explained that "as the soldiers approached the building, they began to hear shouts in Hebrew asking for their help ." At that point, the Israeli hostage who was hiding inside the building came out but soon after returned. The source went on to say that the soldiers believed “he was a Hamas member trying to lure them into a trap.”
Meanwhile, as we learn of the death of another Israeli hostage, a 27-year-old girl, the families of the prisoners held in the Gaza Strip have urged Prime Minister Netanyahu's government to put an end to the fighting and start negotiations for their release.
“We're just recovering bodies. We want you to stop the fighting and start negotiations,” Noam Perry, daughter of a kidnapped Israeli, said during a gathering of hostage families in Tel Aviv.
Robby Chen, father of a 19-year-old soldier, expressed his anger by holding an hourglass in his hand. «What are you waiting for? To make them go back to the coffins? We ask the government to speak to us today and explain what proposal they have on the table."
(Unioneonline/lf)