Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari December 28th, 20:15

Statement of the IDF Spokesperson - December 28, 2023

Today we presented to the Talalka, Shamriz and Haim families the investigation summarized by the Chief of the General Staff regarding the circumstances of the deaths of the three hostages from our forces' gunfire. War involves very difficult events; in this event, we conducted a thorough operational inquiry in the midst of the war As there are still hostages in the area, we have the duty to draw lessons as quickly as possible and translate them into immediate protocols for the forces in the field. Alon, Samer and Yotam, of blessed memory, each of them is a world unto themselves. We are responsible for what happened. We presented the families with the investigation and all the findings that were available to us with transparency while striving for truth, even when it is very hard and painful. Shejaiya is a war zone teeming with terrorists and full of explosives and weapons. On the map displayed here before you, you can see the escape route of the hostages as discovered from the investigation. The three hostages were held in a tunnel, and we estimate that following our ground operation in the Shejaiya area, the terrorists holding the hostages emerged from underground and moved to a hideout building. It is important for me to emphasize – at the time of the operation, there was no intelligence about hostages in that building. On December 10th, a note was found at the entrance to a terror tunnel in Shejaiya, written in Hebrew, "Save us". The note was examined, but it did not provide real-time information linking it to the presence of hostages in the area. The forces in the field assumed that this was an attempt by Hamas to deceive and draw the forces into an ambush near the tunnel, as we have seen in other places. On that day, about 600 meters from the tunnel, IDF soldiers raided several buildings to locate terrorists and weapons. The forces entered a building, sending in a dog from the Oketz Unit beforehand. A battle ensued. During it, the terrorists shot at the dog and toward the forces from inside the building. The forces returned fire at the sources of fire and killed the terrorists, some of whom also escaped from the building. During the battle, cries for help in Hebrew were heard from the building, the words "save us" and "hostages" were spoken, along with other words. The force assessed that this was a deception attempt by the terrorists, as the building was also suspected to be booby-trapped, and therefore the force withdrew from the building and refrained from entering it. Based on these suspicions, the forces withdrew and directed fire from combat helicopters and tanks toward the building and the area. At the end of this event, between four and five terrorists were killed, likely those holding the hostages captive. After the battle ended and the terrorists were neutralized, the hostages emerged from the building in an attempt to escape to Shejaiya. They moved to another building a kilometer away. On December 14th, signs were spotted on the building with the writing SOS, save us, three hostages. Near the building, right below the window with the signs, were blue barrels, a known indication to our forces of a booby-trap. Our forces encountered explosives precisely in such blue barrels elsewhere in the Shejaiya area. As a result, they assumed that the building was booby-trapped and marked it as such among the forces. IDF soldiers identified the suspicious figures in the picture here, a day later, on December 15th. You can see the location of the soldier who identified them that morning with limited visibility from his window and mistakenly fired at what he thought at that moment was a threat to him and the force in the building. As a result of this fire, two hostages were killed. The company commander called to cease fire, but soldiers who did not hear the order and heard tank noises and other sounds in the area continued to fire, killing the third hostage. The IDF soldiers involved in the event had experienced complex combat situations in the days leading up to it. They were in a state of high alert and awareness of threats in the area. Also, there were no civilians moving around in that area at that time. During the battles, our forces encountered deceptions by the enemy and attempts to draw them into tunnels and booby-trapped buildings. The Chief of the General Staff summarized the investigation and determined – the shooting at the hostages should not have been carried out. This shooting did not correspond to the risk and situation. However, it was carried out under complex circumstances and intense combat conditions under prolonged threat. IDF rules of engagement are a necessary component of the army and are designed to protect us also so that we do not kill ourselves. They set and influence fateful decisions as happened in this event. The Chief of the General Staff spoke yesterday about the investigation's lessons with all the brigade commanders, he spoke with them through secured communication and everyone discussed the lessons of the recent days of combat, with an emphasis on the lessons from this operational event so that we learn. Why? Because there are still 129 hostages in the Gaza area, in various places, and we may encounter them and every soldier in the Gaza area received the lessons from this investigation. The investigation, above all, teaches us about the courage, persistence, and bravery of Alon, Samer, and Yotam, of blessed memory. In a war zone full of dangers, they acted while trying to do everything in their power to signal to us that they were in the area. The events of October 7 and the war present us with unimaginable situations and very difficult decisions that commanders and soldiers made in the field. We will complete more thorough investigations of ourselves when the operational situation allows it, but and for now, we will continue to fight against the cruel enemy, Hamas, in order to achieve the war's objectives. We have no other way but to learn and improve and continue fighting resolutely.