Israeli military admits ‘high probability’ it mistakenly killed hostages

The Israeli military has said there is a “high probability” that three hostages found dead in a tunnel at the end of last year were mistakenly killed in a strike that also took the life of Hamas’s northern Gaza brigade chief, Ahmed al-Ghandour, in November.

The families of Col Nik Beizer and Sgt Ron Sherman, both 19, and the French-Israeli civilian Elia Toledano, 28, who were abducted by Hamas on 7 October, were informed in the last week by officials from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that a comprehensive inquiry revealed their loved ones had lost their lives as a result of IDF actions.

Their bodies were recovered on 14 December from a tunnel in Jabaliya but the most likely cause of death was only recently determined, the military said.

“The findings of the investigation suggest that the three, with high probability, were killed by a byproduct of an IDF airstrike,” a statement said. “This is a highly probable estimate given all the data, but it is not possible to determine with certainty the circumstances of their death.”

The families were initially told the hostages had been killed by Hamas captors and, in January, the IDF rejected Hamas’s assertions that they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The conclusions of the investigation could add to pressure on the government to strike a deal to bring home the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

The mothers of the two soldiers had pressed, since their bodies were discovered, for a full account of how their sons had died. “We have to find out the truth about everything,” Maayan Sherman, the mother of Sherman, told the Wall Street Journal in May. “Even if the truth is: ‘We had to kill them.’”

The November airstrike was aimed at al-Ghandour, who was taking cover in a tunnel. The IDF’s inquiry at the time concluded that the military was unaware of the presence of hostages in the area during the strike.

“At the time of the strike, the IDF did not have information about the presence of hostages in the targeted compound,” the military said. “Furthermore, there was information suggesting that they were located elsewhere, and thus the area was not designated as one with suspected presence of hostages.”