Israeli hostages killed by IDF fire screamed 'help,' held white flag

Israeli hostages killed by IDF fire screamed 'help,' held white flag

The three Israeli hostages killed mistakenly by Israeli forces in Gaza screamed "Help!" in Hebrew while holding up a white flag, an initial inquiry into the incident found on Saturday, as per an Israeli military official.

According to the inquiry, the hostages were standing near a building with the words "help" and "SOS" spray-painted on its exterior walls.

In addition, IDF also found a message saying "three hostage - help," on the buildings two days before the deadly altercation, the inquiry found.

Two were killed by the initial IDF fire, with one momentarily returning inside the building after being severely wounded. Minutes later, the third hostage appeared out of the building and was shot dead after he was suspected as a terrorist.

The battalion commander on the field reportedly called to cease fire at the third hostage, but three soldiers shot him dead.


I suppose the IDF simply thought these were Palestinian civilians/children and opened fired without realizing they were yelling "Help!" in Hebrew while also carrying white flags. They were use to shooting/blowing up anything and everything that moves and then asking questions later that this time they ended up murdering 3 hostages. Israeli officials did admit this was against rules of engagement, but they essentially view rules of war as a joke anyways. Ironic that an Israeli battalion commander would call for a ceasefire... Not surprising that the IDF soldiers ignored it.

It is called the Hannibal Directive.

I never heard of this before. I'm reading up now about it... Thanks for bringing this to light.

I wonder at what point the apologists for these criminals will admit this is not self defence? Or if such a point even exists for people who would defend these actions.

Perhaps it should be renamed the Hannibal Lecter Directive, to disambiguate the practice of eating one's own from the military tactician?

Unfortunate things happen during the fog of war. God bless the IDF and please protect the hostages.

They will still claim it's self-defense as they ignore stories like this or not respond whatsoever at all hoping it goes away. The only narrative they will tell and share is one which puts Palestinians in a negative light. Objectivity is not important to most people... even Christians it seems. The norm is to pick a side and never concede when the side you're cheering for does something barbaric and inhumane.

This is extremely strange and very disturbing. It seems that there is really no excuse for this disaster. The Times of Israel has a full report as below.

Halevi to troops, after 3 hostages killed: IDF doesn’t shoot people waving white flag.

The excuse is this war, like all others, is for political purposes, not to rescue Israeli hostages or because Israel is defending itself from a bogeyman of its own creating. Possibly rescuing the hostages would result in them divulging some inconvenient truths, so their deaths were more convenient to those calling the shots of the war.

Sangita Myska is such an excellent interviewer. It's been a minute since I've seen actual journalism.

Well, well, well. Judging by the silence on this thread, it appears it highlights a war crime that even the most ardent apologists for war criminals won't try to justify.

You seem to be getting more and more delusional. "A bogeyman of its own creating"? So according to you nothing happened on October 7. Of course this incident is partly because the ones responsible for Israeli security failed to do their jobs. But that is no excuse for the atrocities committed by Hamas. The very fact that they took innocent civilians as hostages (and killed some of them) should have disturbed you. But no. "political purposes" is you focus. So the reality is that the "political purpose" of Iran, the Houthis, and Hamas is the total extermination of Israel and the Jews in Palestine. I guess that agrees with your philosophy.

Most everyone knows what happened on Oct. 7th. The most secure country on the planet was suddenly defenseless and over a thousand Israelis (and visitors from from other countries) were brutally murdered by Hamas while CNN and other media groups were ready to film but it took Israel 6-8 hours to deploy any type of defense.

You see, most people here acknowledge Hamas is a terrorist organization that murders innocent people. You're the one who denies disgusting acts... you deny the Nakba ever happened in spite of videos posted about it from people living to this day from BOTH sides. People here denied Israel indiscriminately killing Palestinians... This event of Israel murdering 3 of their own is evidence of Israeli's m.o.... shoot first, ask questions later... only this time, they kept shooting even when they were ordered to stop, even though the 3 men had their shirts off to show they didn't have explosives attached to them, even though they had "SOS" written, even though they had white flags, even though they were yelling "HELP" in Hebrew. If this doesn't expose how they have been handling their occupation into Gaza, I don't know what will.

It really takes a special kind to acknowledge that elements of the US government were involved in its 9/11, but that insists elements of the Israeli government could not have been involved in its 10/7. One of us does appear to be getting more and more delusional, but reality is lining up with what I'm claiming, and you're going the way of the Democrat Communists. I'm sure you'll come around when the Rothschild Zionist Kool Aid wears off.