Three Israeli hostages killed by IDF were 'holding white flag', says military official

Three Israeli hostages mistakenly killed by the IDF had been holding a white flag, an Israeli military official has said.

The official said an initial inquiry into the incident has found the hostages were fired upon against Israel's rules of engagement.

The IDF said yesterday that the victims - all Israeli men in their 20s - were killed during combat with Hamas militants.

They had wrongly been identified as a threat, the military said previously.

The victims were identified as Samer Talalka, 22, Yotam Haim, 28, and Alon Shamriz, 26.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called their deaths an "unbearable tragedy" and vowed to continue "with a supreme effort to return all the hostages home safely".

A soldier saw the hostages emerging tens of meters from Israeli forces in the area of Shejaiya, the official said.

"They're all without shirts and they have a stick with a white cloth on it. The soldier feels threatened and opens fire. He declares that they're terrorists, they (forces) open fire, two are killed immediately," said the military official.

The third hostage was wounded and retreated into a nearby building where he called for help in Hebrew, the official said.

"Immediately the battalion commander issues a ceasefire order, but again there's another burst of fire towards the third
figure and he also dies," said the official. "This was against our rules of engagement," he added.

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