The Israeli armed force said its troops shot and killed three hostages after they “mistakenly” saw them as a threat on Friday.
“During combat in Shejaiya (a battleground neighbourhood of Gaza City), the IDF (army) mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat. As a result, the troops fired toward them and they were killed,” said the Israeli army in a statement.
It further said that, “Immediate lessons from the event have been learned, which have been passed on to all IDF troops in the field”, and also expressed guilt for the incident.
The three hostages identified by the armed forces were Alon Shamriz and Yotam Haim taken from Kibbutz Kfarv Aza during Hamas’s October 7 attack and Shamer El-Talalqa from Kibbutz Nir Am.
Meanwhile, hearing about the incident Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the incident was an “Unbearable tragedy”.
He said, “the entire State of Israel mourns this evening. My heart goes out to the grieving families in their difficult time.”
The Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced that the military “bears responsibility for everything that happened”.
Mr Hagari further daid, “we believe that the three Israelis either escaped or were abandoned by terrorists who held them captive”, adding “we still don’t know these details”.
On Friday, the White House also reacted over the incident calling it a “tragic mistake”.
During Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,139 people as per the official figures around 250 people kidnapped and made hostages by Hamas.
Israel in retaliation against Hamas has killed over 18,700 people so far. The Israeli government has stated its chief aim repeatedly to bring back all the hostages safe at the earliest.
