Hundreds Of People In Israel Are Protesting After Its Military Killed Three Of Its Own Hostages In Gaza
“We are getting all the hostages [back] as bodies. They are dying. They are dying in bombings, failed rescue operations and from our forces’ fire even when they succeed in escaping.”
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Israel’s Tel Aviv after the Israeli military announced that it mistakenly shot and killed three of its own hostages in Gaza.
On Friday Dec. 15, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said during a press briefing that the entire Israeli military mistakenly identified three hostages, who had been kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7th, as a threat and fired on them, killing them.
Hagari named two hostages as Yotam Haim and Samer El-Talalqa, who were taken during Hamas’ attack on two kibbutzes during its Oct. 7 attack. The third hostage was later identified as Alon Shamriz.
Following the announcement, family members and friends marched through Tel Aviv to Israel’s central military base in the city to demand a deal to bring home the hostages immediately.
“We are getting all the hostages [back] as bodies. They are dying. They are dying in bombings, failed rescue operations and from our forces’ fire even when they succeed in escaping,” the family member of a hostage that is sill held captive told Israeli newspaper Hareetz.
“We demand that the Israeli government be prepared to pay the price and put the hostages at the top of the agenda.”
Some Israelis have accused of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of not doing enough to bring back their loved ones.
In the most recent hostage deal, which began on Nov. 24 and lasted seven days, Hamas released 69 hostages it took from Israel, including 51 Israelis and 18 foreign nationals, while Israel has freed 150 Palestinian women and children.
