‘The hostages weren’t our top priority’: How Israel’s bombing frenzy endangered captives in Gaza

 By

Yuval Abraham      December 17, 2023

 

The IDF Spokesperson’s announcement on Friday that Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip had “mistakenly shot dead” three Israeli hostages, who had been abducted by Hamas during its October 7 assault, has shocked Israeli society. Despite reportedly removing their shirts and holding up a white cloth to signal surrender, the soldiers deemed the hostages — one of whom was a Bedouin citizen — threats and fired at them. Herzl Halevi, the IDF Chief of Staff, took personal responsibility for the incident, adding: “There is nothing IDF soldiers and commanders in the Gaza Strip want more than to rescue hostages alive. In this case, we failed to do so.”

Halevi’s sentiment, however, does not always appear to have been put into practice. A new investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call suggests that, since the beginning of the Gaza war, the Israeli leadership has relegated the goal of ensuring the hostages’ safety in favor of larger military and political goals in the occupied territory — a fact that has not only stoked anger and discontent from hostages’ families, but seems to have been pursued despite concerns from soldiers, especially during the first few weeks of the operation.

Intelligence sources who spoke to +972 and Local Call on the condition of anonymity, before the shooting of the three abductees on Friday, affirmed that during the initial stages of the war, the Israeli army’s intense bombardment of Gaza was conducted without having a clear picture of where many of the more than 240 hostages were being held. The relentless airstrikes — which have so far killed more than 18,700 Palestinians, displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s population, and decimated large swathes of the besieged Strip — also continued despite concerns that the bombings might endanger the lives of the hostages, according to the sources.

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https://www.972mag.com/israel-bombing-endangered-hostages-gaza/