The family of an Israeli hostage who was gunned down by Israeli soldiers in Gaza say that they were not notified that an audio recording of him pleading for help had been leaked to the media.
Alon Shamriz, 26, was shot dead along with two other hostages, Yotam Haim, 28, and Samar Fouad Talalka, 24, after they had escaped their captors.
They were killed by Israeli forces as they approached them shirtless and waving a white cloth in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Shujaiya. A military spokesperson said that the men had been mistakenly identified as a threat.
Jesus Christ, imagine pulling off the heist of your lives, sneaking around and escaping your captors, evading recapture from terrorists and scared civilians for however long in the bombed out badlands, finally glimpsing your hope and salvation in the distance, and then getting shot down by the very soldiers you put your hopes in. Brutal.
"They used food to stain a cloth with the words “help 3 hostages” written in Hebrew, as well as “SOS,” to alert the IDF to their location. An Israeli drone captured video of the signs hanging from a building, but the battalion that was there at the time marked the building as a potential trap, according to the preliminary IDF review.
A sniper positioned more than 100 yards away fired the shots that killed Shamriz and Telalka — and wounded Haim, the IDF said.
Haim then ran back inside the building and called out for help in Hebrew. The battalion commander held fire. But when Haim re-emerged in the doorway, another soldier, against the orders of the commander to not fire, shot him dead, according to a preliminary assessment. The soldiers reportedly said they had not fully understood their commands."
The press that Israel is generating for itself is the payoff for Hamas, and so obviously, it was always intended to be. Israel started out with everything to lose and that's exactly what they're continuing to do.
But I would assume most people in the area would speak enough Hebrew to at least be passable in this. (And vice versa, enough Arabic going the other way.)
I just don’t see that as a reason to not think it’s a trap. It’s fucked, but they’re consistent: everyone is Hamas.
I get it for the parents that this is really traumatizing, and they probably shouldn't listen to it. It is important to protect other people and give accurate information though. Sure, it's their son who died, but it's not about them or him anymore. It's about all the other people still suffering and dying.