Israel troops ‘mistakenly’ shot dead three Israeli hostages, says army

Israeli armyin early hours of Saturday (Dec16, IST) said that its soldiers had "mistakenly" shot deadthree hostagesafter considering them a threat.

"During combat in Shejaiya, the IDF (army) mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat. As a result, the troops fired toward them and they were killed," the army said in a statement, expressing "deep remorse over the tragic incident".

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"The IDF began reviewing the incident immediately... Immediate lessons from the event have been learned, which have been passed on to all IDF troops in the field," it added.

The army has identified two of the hostages and has withheld the name of the third hostage after a request from the family.

Yotam Haim, one of the dead hostages was abducted by Hamas terrorists during October 7 attack from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The second hostage, Samer El-Talaqa was taken from Kibbutz Nir Am.

When it launched its attack on October 7, Hamas terrorists killed 1200 Israelis and took around 250 as hostages.

The Israeli army also said earlier on Friday that the body ofElia Toledano, a French-Israeli hostage was returned to Israel. Toledano was not part of the group of three hostages which were mistakenly shot by Israeli troops on Saturday.

Status of the war and main developments onFriday (Dec 15)

Amid the still raging Israel-Hamas war, Israel on Friday (Dec 15) reopened aid crossing into the Gaza Strip. Israel has been under increasing global pressure especially from the United States for restraint and for efforts to avoid civilian casualties. The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza strip has already claimed that the death toll in the enclave has crossed 18,000. Israel has announced that opening of the crossing would be a "temporary" measure.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting between the two sides continued on Friday. Hamas claimed to have blown up a house in Khan Yunis that the militant group said had Israeli soldiers inside.

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AFP reported that in Rafah near the Egyptian border, Palestinians searched for possible survivors under buildings destroyed due to Israeli strikes.

Notable development of the day was interception of missiles over Jerusalem.The city has a powerful missile defence system.

Israel's army said on Friday that 119 soldiers had died in Gaza since its ground offensive began.

US, the biggest international backer of Israel which gives billions of dollars to the latter in military aid, has so far strongly backed Israel and has said that it had a right to defend itself. But top US officials including US President Joe Biden have expressed major concerns about the rising death toll in Gaza Strip.

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US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who met Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, met Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas in West Bank on Friday.

Abbas asserted that Gaza should remain an "integral part" of the Palestinian state.

Also Read | 45 pc of Israeli air-to-ground munitions in Gaza are 'dumb bombs', reveals report

On Friday, there were calls from multiple Western nations including Britain, Canada, France and the European Union and Australia that Israel should "take concrete steps to halt unprecedented violence by Israeli settlers".

A journalist from Turkey's Anadolu news agency was assaulted by Israeli police in East Jerusalem when he tried to take photos of praying Palestinians. It was even reported that the police kicked him when he was on the ground in an injured state.

(With inputs from agencies)