“A tragic incident”
Israel’s military accidentally shoots Hamas hostages during operation
December 15, 2023, 8:10 p.m
The Gaza neighborhood of Shejaiya is one of the last Hamas centers in the northern Gaza Strip. When the Israeli military is deployed, a serious mix-up occurs in the district. Soldiers open fire on three hostages they mistakenly believe to be terrorists.
The Israeli military says it accidentally shot three Hamas hostages during an operation in the Gaza Strip. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the armed forces mistakenly identified them as a threat and shot them during an operation in the Hamas stronghold of Shejaiya in the north of the sealed-off coastal strip in the morning.
It is still unclear how the three hostages ended up in the area of the fighting. However, after an initial reconstruction of the events, the military assumes that they either escaped from their captors or were intentionally left behind, Hagari added. Shortly after the incident, suspicions arose that the dead could have been hostages. The bodies were then brought to Israeli territory for closer examination. It was confirmed that there were three Israeli hostages.
“This is a tragic incident, the army bears full responsibility,” Hagari continued. The military immediately began investigating the incident. Hagari emphasized that Shejaiya is an “active combat area” where there has been ongoing fighting in recent days. He expressed his condolences to the families of the hostages.
In the morning, Israel’s army announced that it had captured and destroyed the command center of an important Hamas battalion in Shejaiya. The military said soldiers also killed terrorists during the operation. A tunnel complex was also destroyed. The information cannot be independently verified. Shejaiya is a district of the city of Gaza. It is considered one of the last two centers of the Islamist Hamas in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.