Israeli military ‘probably’ killed three hostages in Gaza airstrikes, confirms probe

The Israeli military announced on Sunday (September 15) there was a "high probability" that the three hostages were killed in an airstrike carried out by the IDF in Gaza in November.

The announcement was made by the army while making public the investigations carried out into the deaths of Corporal Nik Beizer, Sergeant Ron Sherman and French-Israeli Elia Toledano.

The army said the investigations have revealed that the three hostages were killed in the same airstrike in which senior Hamas militant Ahmed Ghandour was targeted andlost his life in November.

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The dead bodies of the three hostages were recovered and brought back to Israel in December.

Here's what IDF found regarding the death of hostages

"The findings of the investigation suggest a high probability that the three were killed as a result of a byproduct of an IDF air strike, during the elimination of the Hamas Northern Brigade commander, Ahmed Ghandour, on November 10th, 2023," said the militaryin a statement.

"This assessment is based on the location of where their bodies were found in relation to the strike's impact, performance analysis of the strike, intelligence findings, the results of the pathological reports, and the conclusions of the Forensic Medicine Institute," it added.

"This is a high-probability assessment based on all of the available information, but it is not possible to definitively determine the circumstances of their deaths," the military stated.

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According to the investigation by the military, the three captives were held in a tunnel complex.

"At the time of the strike, the IDF did not have information about the presence of hostages in the targeted compound," said the military.

"Furthermore, there was information suggesting that they were located elsewhere, and thus the area was not designated as one with suspected presence of hostages," it added.

The three hostages were kidnapped during the October 7 attack by Hamas. The Israeli army found their bodies in December, however, the cause of death has been determined only recently.

Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

(With inputs from agencies)