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

People protest following an announcement by Israel's military that they had mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages being held in Gaza by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, December 15, 2023. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura

Three Israeli hostages who were mistakenly killed in Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces were holding up a white flag, a military official said Saturday.

The Israel Defense Forces has launched a probe after soldiers fighting in Gaza City mistook three escaped Israeli hostages for a threat and killed them. A soldier saw the hostages emerging several yards away from Israeli forces on Friday in Shejaiya, a warzone where Hamas terrorists have been known to ambush soldiers in civilian clothing, 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 (the Israeli forces) open fire. Two (hostages) are killed immediately," the official told reporters in a phone briefing, per Reuters. 

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," the official said. "This was against our rules of engagement," he added.

The Israeli military earlier identified the three hostages killed in Shejaiya, an eastern suburb of Gaza City, as Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz, abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Samer Al-Talalka, abducted from nearby Kibbutz Nir Am.