Israeli Hostage Shooting: Replacement Battalion Notified, IDF Sniper Allowed To Shoot Anyone Who is Suspicious

JAKARTA - The replacement battalion was not informed about the sign calling for help in Hebrew that the previous unit saw at the location where the Israeli hostages were shot, while snipers at the location were allowed to shoot anyone suspicious, according to an investigation report conducted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Public broadcaster Kan revealed new details about the investigation into the killing of three hostages by IDF members last Friday.

According to the report, the IDF battalion on duty when the shooting incident occurred was not briefed by the unit it was replacing, about the latter group seeing a Hebrew sign reading "Help – Three Hostages" on one of the buildings at the scene, reported The Times of Israel, December 20.

In addition, the investigation also reported that the IDF sniper who shot dead the first two hostages, Alon Shamriz and Samar Talalka, did not recognize the white cloth they were carrying.

In the briefing he received upon starting his shift, the sniper was told the entire area was a combat zone and he was permitted to fire on anyone suspicious.

The investigation also found that the shooting of the third hostage, Yotam Haim, was particularly horrific, because he managed to escape back to a nearby building after being shot along with Shamriz and Talalka.

The battalion commander then shouted to the soldiers to hold fire, but one of them continued shooting and killed Haim after he re-emerged from the building a second time.

As previously reported, the Commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) admitted that the shooting of three hostages in Gaza last week was difficult, while an SOS sign was found near the location where they were shot and it was thought to be a trap set by the Hamas militant group.

The building with the signs was discovered by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday. At first it was considered to have the potential to be a trap by Hamas. It said Hamas had attempted to lure soldiers into a trap in the area in recent days.

The IDF said that, according to initial investigations, the three hostages had been in the building for some time after successfully escaping Hamas or being abandoned by their captors.

On Friday, the three approached soldiers while bare-chested and waving white flags. However, they were shot at by soldiers who mistakenly identified them as threats and opened fire in violation of regulations.

Speaking to 99th Division troops in the Gaza Strip, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said, "hopefully we will have another opportunity for the hostages to come to us and we will do the right thing."

"I tell you in a very simple way, this incident was very difficult and painful, and no one will come and say otherwise," Lt. Gen. Halevi told the soldiers.

"This is an incident that could not have happened easily. And think, why are we carrying out maneuvers (in Gaza)? We have set three goals, to disband Hamas, restore security to residents (border settlements) and the third mission is to free the hostages," he explained.

"You see two people, they raised their hands and had no clothes on, it took two seconds," he told soldiers, referring to Friday's tragic incident, in which the three hostages were bare-chested and one of the hostages waved a white flag.

"And I want to say something that is no less important, what if there were two Gazans wearing white flags who came out to surrender, would we shoot them? Absolutely not. Absolutely not," stressed Halevi.

"Even those who were fighting and are now laying down their weapons and raising their hands, we arrest them, we don't shoot them. We get a lot of intelligence from the detainees we have, we already have more than a thousand people," he stressed.

Lt. Gen. Halevi added, "We didn't shoot them because the IDF doesn't shoot people who raise their hands. This is a strength, not a weakness."