Investigation reveals Israeli hostage was 'waving a white flag' in poor visibility before being shot

Alon Shamriz, 26; Samer Talalka, 22 and 28-year-old Yotam Haim were identified as the three hostages killed on Dec. 15. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that an internal investigation into an incident in which three Israeli hostages were shot and killed by the country's military in Gaza City on Dec. 15 revealed that "one of them was waving a white flag" in poor visibility before being hit with gunfire.

"On December 15, 2023, during intense days of fighting in Shejaiya, an IDF soldier fired toward three figures, identified as threats, and hit two of the hostages who were killed. The third figure fled," the IDF said. 

"The commanders gave orders to hold fire in order to identify the third figure. After approximately 15 minutes, the battalion commander heard shouts in Hebrew of 'help' and 'they are shooting at me,' and gave additional orders to hold fire, calling out in Hebrew 'come toward us.' The figure emerged from a building toward the forces. Two soldiers, who did not hear the order due to noise from a nearby tank, shot at and killed the third hostage," the IDF continued.

"From the investigation and analysis of the findings and aerial footage of the area, it was revealed that the hostages were walking shirtless, and one of them was waving a white flag, standing at a point with limited visibility relative to the position of the soldier that fired the shot," the IDF added.

Israel's military said in the days leading up to the incident, "a note with the Hebrew writing 'Help' was found at the exit of a terror tunnel in the Shejaiya area" alongside an "ID of a Hamas operative." But troops considered it an attempt by Hamas to lure them into an ambush. 

Then during the day before the incident, "signs with the writing 'SOS' and 'Help, 3 hostages' were identified by drone footage on a building 200 meters from where the hostages were killed. Near the building, blue barrels commonly found in rigged areas, which the forces encountered in the Shejaiya area, were spotted, thus it was suspected as a trap," the IDF also said.

The IDF concluded that "The investigation revealed that the command ranks had information about the presence of hostages in the Shejaiya area and even took actions to prevent strikes on locations suspected of having hostages inside," but "in this case, there was no intelligence about either building where the hostages were in."

"The entire chain of command feels responsible for this difficult event, regrets this outcome, and shares in the grief of the families of the three hostages," the IDF said.