3 hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli troops had been holding a white flag, military official says

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Updated 17 December 2023
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3 hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli troops had been holding a white flag, military official says

  • The hostages, all in their 20s, were killed Friday in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah
  • Account of how hostages died raises questions about conduct of Israeli ground troops

JERUSALEM: Three Israeli hostages who were mistakenly shot by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip had been waving a white flag and were shirtless when they were killed, a military official said Saturday, in Israel’s first such acknowledgement of harming any hostages in its war against Hamas.
Anger over the mistaken killings is likely to increase pressure on the Israeli government to renew Qatar-mediated negotiations with Hamas over swapping more of the remaining captives, believed to number more than 130, for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Hamas has conditioned further releases on Israel halting its punishing air and ground campaign in Gaza, while Israeli leaders have said the hostages’ release can only be achieved through military pressure.
The account of how the hostages died raised questions about the conduct of Israeli ground troops. Palestinians on several occasions have reported that Israeli soldiers opened fire as civilians tried to flee to safety. Hamas has claimed other hostages were previously killed by Israeli fire or airstrikes, without presenting evidence.
The Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to brief reporters in line with military regulations, said it was likely that the hostages had been abandoned by their captors or had escaped. The soldiers’ behavior was “against our rules of engagement,” the official said, and was being investigated at the highest level.
The hostages, all in their 20s, were killed Friday in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where troops are engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas militants. They had been among more than 240 people taken hostage during an unprecedented raid by Hamas into Israel on Oct. 7 in which around 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians. The attack sparked the war.
The hostages’ plight has dominated public discourse in Israel, and their families have led a powerful campaign urging the government to do more to bring them home.
Speaking at a Saturday night rally in Tel Aviv, Rubi Chen, father of 19-year-old hostage Itay Chen, criticized the government for believing hostages could be retrieved through continuous military pressure on Hamas. “Put the the best offer on the table to get the hostages home alive,” he said. “We don’t want them back in bags. We have no time,” he said, holding up an hourglass.
The Israeli military official said the three hostages had emerged from a building close to Israeli soldiers’ positions. They were waving a white flag and were shirtless, possibly trying to signal they posed no threat.
Two were killed immediately, and the third ran back into the building screaming for help in Hebrew. The commander issued an order to cease fire, but another burst of gunfire killed the third man, the official said.
Israeli media gave a more detailed account. The mass circulation daily Yediot Ahronot said that according to an investigation into the incident, a sniper identified the hostages as suspects when they emerged, despite them not being armed, and shot two of the three.
Soldiers followed the third when he ran into the building and hid, shouting at him to come out, and at least one soldier shot him when he emerged from a staircase, Yediot Ahronot said.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz gave a similar account based on a preliminary investigation, saying the soldiers who followed the third hostage believed he was a Hamas member trying to pull them into a trap.
Local media also reported that soldiers had seen a nearby building marked with “SOS” and “Help! Three hostages” two days earlier but feared it might be a trap.
Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli pollster and political analyst, said it is unlikely that the mistaken killings will massively alter public support for the war. Most Israelis still have a strong sense of why it is being fought and believe Hamas needs to be defeated, she said.
“They feel like there’s no other choice,” she said.
The killings emphasized the dangers faced by hostages held in areas of house-to-house combat like Shijaiyah, where nine soldiers were killed this week in an ambush on one of the deadliest days for ground forces in the war. The military has said Hamas has booby-trapped buildings and ambushed troops after emerging from a tunnel network it built under Gaza City.
Hamas released over 100 hostages for Palestinian prisoners during a brief cease-fire in November. Nearly all freed on both sides were women and minors. Talks on further swaps broke down, with Hamas seeking the release of more veteran prisoners for female soldiers it holds.
Hamas said it will only free the remaining hostages if Israel ends the war and releases all Palestinian prisoners. As of late November, Israel held nearly 7,000 Palestinians accused or convicted of security offenses, including hundreds rounded up since the start of the war.
The offensive has killed more than 18,700 Palestinians, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Its count did not specify how many were women and minors, but they have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead.
It was the ministry’s last update before a communications blackout that continued to hamper telephone and Internet services in the Gaza Strip. “Now 48 hours and counting. The incident is likely to limit reporting and visibility to events on the ground,” Alp Toker, director of NetBlocks, a group tracking Internet outages, told The Associated Press.
Dozens of mourners held funeral prayers Saturday for Samer Abu Daqqa, a Palestinian journalist working for the Al Jazeera network who was killed Friday in an Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Younis. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the cameraman was the 64th journalist to be killed since the conflict erupted: 57 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese.
The war has flattened much of northern Gaza and driven 85 percent of the territory’s population of 2.3 million from their homes. Displaced people have squeezed into shelters mainly in the south in a growing humanitarian crisis. Only a trickle of aid has been able to enter Gaza and distribution is disrupted by fighting.
Residents in northern Gaza, meanwhile, reported heavy bombing and the sounds of gunbattles in devastated Gaza City and the nearby urban refugee camp of Jabaliya.
“It was a violent bombardment,” Assad Abu Taha said by phone from Shijaiyah. Another resident, Hamza Abu Seada, reported heavy airstrikes in Jabaliya, with non-stop sounds of explosions and gunfire.
An Associated Press journalist in southern Gaza reported airstrikes and tank shelling overnight in Khan Younis and Rafah.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has expressed unease over Israel’s failure to reduce civilian casualties and its plans for Gaza’s future, but the White House continues to offer support with weapons shipments and diplomatic backing.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is expected to visit Israel soon to continue discussions on a timetable for winding down the intense combat phase of the war.
The US has pushed Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, and the government said it would open a second entry point to speed up deliveries.


Vast majority of Brits want full arms embargo on Israel: Poll

Updated 6 sec ago
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Vast majority of Brits want full arms embargo on Israel: Poll

  • Just 16% oppose expelling the country from the UN
  • Palestine Solidarity Campaign: Survey ‘speaks to Israel’s growing isolation and the significant public support for sanctions’

LONDON: Around 80 percent of the British public support a full arms embargo on Israel, and just 16 percent oppose expelling the country from the UN, according to a poll conducted by Opinium.

Around three-quarters of respondents want public sector pensions to disengage from investments linked to Israel.

The findings come in the aftermath of Co-op members voting at their annual general meeting last week for the supermarket to stop selling Israeli products. Two-thirds of those surveyed by Opinium back similar boycotts by other UK supermarkets.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said in a statement: “The polling … speaks to Israel’s growing isolation and the significant public support for sanctions.

“By continuing to arm and support Israel even as it enacts a genocide and a policy of forced starvation, the British government is holding on to an increasingly fringe position, completely out of sync with public opinion, and with the views of those who supported it at the last election.”

On Wednesday, thousands of activists are set to form a kilometer-long cordon around the Houses of Parliament in London, linked by a stretch of red fabric, to call for an end to UK military aid to Israel and the imposition of sanctions on the country.

Jamal said: “Those bringing the demand for an arms embargo to Parliament … in a symbolic red line are doing so knowing that the demand is supported by the majority of their fellow citizens.”

The PSC said in a press release: “For nearly 3 months Israel imposed a total blockade preventing all humanitarian assistance, resulting in deaths by starvation, widespread malnutrition and hunger amongst 2.3 million people.

“Israel has now imposed a severely limited and militarised aid operation, condemned by international aid organisations, that has resulted in scores of Palestinians being shot dead as they search for food.”


Israel army says projectiles launched from Syria fell in open areas

Updated 2 min 33 sec ago
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Israel army says projectiles launched from Syria fell in open areas

  • Two projectiles fell near two Israeli settlements in the occupied Golan Heights

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said two projectiles launched from Syria crossed into Israeli territory on Tuesday, but fell without causing damage near two settlements in the occupied Golan Heights.
“Following the sirens that sounded in Haspin and Ramat Magshimim at 21:36, two projectiles were identified crossing from Syria into Israeli territory and fell in open areas,” the military said in a statement.
In a separate incident, Tel Aviv said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen on Tuesday, with a series of explosions heard over Jerusalem.
"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted," the Israeli military said.


Libya’s eastern-based parliament passed budget for its development fund

Updated 03 June 2025
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Libya’s eastern-based parliament passed budget for its development fund

  • The budget of $12.71 billion will be spread equally over three years

BENGHAZI: Libya’s eastern-based parliament voted on Tuesday to approve a budget for its development and reconstruction fund, a parliament spokesperson and member said, although it is unclear if the money will be forthcoming given the country’s divisions.
The budget of 69 billion Libyan dinar ($12.71 billion) will be spread equally over three years, lawmaker Tarek Jroushi told Reuters, adding that the funds will be overseen by the parliament.
Parliament spokesperson Abdullah Blheg earlier announced the approval of the budget in a post on X, without disclosing the budget amount.
The fund, established in February last year by the eastern-based House of Representatives, has independent financial status, according to the parliament gazette.
However it is unclear if the governor of the Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya, Naji Issa, will hand over the money for the fund. The central bank, based in Tripoli, is the only internationally recognized depository for Libyan oil revenues, the country’s vital economic income.
The eastern development fund is headed by Belgasem Haftar, a son of military commander Khalifa Haftar.
The Benghazi-based government of Osama Hamad is allied to Haftar, who controls the east and large parts of the southern region of Libya.
The north African country’s separate Tripoli-based Government of National Unity is headed by interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah, who was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021.


Bahrain elected to Arab seat at UN Security Council for 2026-2027, succeeding Algeria

Updated 03 June 2025
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Bahrain elected to Arab seat at UN Security Council for 2026-2027, succeeding Algeria

  • Bahrain FM Alzayani calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza, release of hostages and detainees, inflow of humanitarian aid to enclave

NEW YORK CITY: The UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected Bahrain to the 15-member UN Security Council for two-year terms starting on Jan. 1, 2026.

The Gulf country was joined for the same stint by Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Latvia, and Liberia.

The Security Council is the only UN body that can make legally binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorizing use of force. It has five permanent veto-wielding members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

The remaining 10 members are elected, with five new members joining every year. Bahrain, Colombia, the DRC, Latvia, and Liberia — who were all elected in uncontested slates — will replace Algeria, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Guyana and Slovenia.

To ensure geographical representation, seats are allocated to regional groups. But even if candidates are running unopposed in their group, they still need to win the support of more than two-thirds of the General Assembly.

Bahrain received 186 votes, DRC 183 votes, Liberia 181 votes, Colombia 180 votes and Latvia 178 votes.

The General Assembly on Monday elected former German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock as president of the 193-member body for its 80th session, which begins in September.


UAE’s foreign minister, Australian counterpart reaffirm friendship

Updated 03 June 2025
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UAE’s foreign minister, Australian counterpart reaffirm friendship

  • Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Penny Wong review issues 50 years on from establishing diplomatic relations

LONDON: Foreign ministers of the UAE and Australia have reaffirmed the friendship of their countries, some 50 years on from establishing diplomatic relations.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Penny Wong stressed in a phone call their mutual commitment to strengthening areas of cooperation in support of both countries’ development goals, the Emirates News Agency reported.

The parties also reviewed regional and international issues of mutual interest and expressed their commitment to continue cooperating to achieve growth.

Abu Dhabi and Canberra are celebrating 50 years since establishing diplomatic relations in March 1975.