“Difficult and painful”
Israel’s military chief takes responsibility for slain hostages
December 16, 2023, 10:08 p.m
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They were shirtless and carried white flags: And yet the Israeli forces accidentally kill three hostages in the Gaza Strip. The military chief takes responsibility and makes it clear that something like this should not happen again.
Israel’s Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi has claimed responsibility for the accidental killing of three Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip by Israeli soldiers. “The army and I as its commander are responsible for what happened and we will do everything to prevent such cases from repeating in the future of the fighting,” he said in a video published on X. He spoke of a “difficult and painful moment”.
At the same time, Halevi made it clear that people with a white flag who want to surrender should not be shot at. Halevi emphasized that rules of engagement were violated when the hostages were killed. “The three hostages did everything to make us recognize them as such – they had their shirts off so we could see they weren’t wearing explosive belts, and they were holding a white flag,” Halevi admitted. He also pointed out that the soldiers were in an active combat zone. Terrorists are active there in civilian clothing and every decision in a split second can mean the difference between life and death.
Netanyahu: An “unbearable tragedy”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as an “unbearable tragedy.” Pressure is likely to increase on him to agree to a new ceasefire on the exchange of hostages for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. According to Israeli estimates, 112 people abducted from Israel are currently being held in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is also not releasing the bodies of 20 people kidnapped on October 7, Netanyahu’s office said.
Meanwhile, there were reports that the Gulf emirate of Qatar was again mediating between Israel and the Islamist Hamas. This involves efforts to further release hostages, as the US newspaper “The Wall Street Journal” and the news portal “Axios” reported. Accordingly, the head of the Israeli secret service Mossad, David Barnea, is said to have met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Oslo to hold discussions about possible transfers of hostages and prisoners. It was also about another ceasefire.
There is currently no official confirmation of the meeting. According to Qatari sources, talks about a new ceasefire in the Gaza war are continuing. The Gulf emirate reiterates its ongoing diplomatic efforts to renew the humanitarian pause, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Qatar maintains good relations with Hamas. At the end of November, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire for the first time through the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the USA, which was briefly extended twice. During this time, Hamas released 105 hostages, including 14 German citizens, and Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners in return.