The IDF
saying that
it mistakenly killed three
Israeli hostages in Gaza.
An IDF
spokesman says
the victims were misidentified
as a threat and shot dead.
CNN's Jeremy
Diamond is in direct
Israel with more on
this tragic development.
Jeremy, what more is the IDF
saying about this
Yeah, it's very sad news.
And the Israeli
military is admitting
that soldiers
effectively mistakenly identified
these three Israeli hostages
as a threat
and shot
and killed them
during combat operations
being conducted in Israel,
which has been the scene of very heavy
fighting between Israel.
And Hamas
over the course of the last week
or two of the three hostages
have been identified.
One of the families of the hostage
of one of the deceased hostages
asked that
their name not be broadcast,
but the two who we can tell
you are Yotam Hayyim,
who was kidnaped
from Kibbutz Kfar AZA on October 7th.
And the second is Summer Talca
who was kidnaped from Kibbutz Nir,
also on October 7th.
The Israeli military
effectively recovered these bodies
in Gaza,
move them to Israel,
where they were taken to a
forensic center
and then subsequently
positively identified
as the bodies of three hostages
who have been
who were kidnaped by Hamas
on October 7th.
Now, we should note amid all of this,
that this comes
as the Israeli military
had loosened its rules of engagement
as it began
this war in Gaza
following those October 7th attacks,
allowing Israeli soldiers to fire upon
suspected terrorists with while
conducting fewer checks
than they normally would have.
The Israeli military, we're told,
is taking lessons from this incident
and transmitting them to soldiers
in the field.
They also say that they, quote,
expressed their deep remorse
over the tragic incident
and send the families
their heartfelt condolences.
This also comes as we know
that some of those former hostages
who were freed
as part of that weeklong
truce between Israel and Hamas,
they angrily confronted
the Israeli prime minister last week
with one of those former hostages
accusing the Israeli government
of having no information
and no intelligence
about the whereabouts
of these hostages,
noting that the location
where she was being kept
by Hamas was actually shelled
by the Israeli military.
And today,
we are learning of a far more tragic
and direct incident
where Israeli forces appear
to have fired upon
Israeli hostages in Gaza,
believing that they were a threat,
and then ultimately
realizing later
after the fact
that they were indeed hostages
forced them.
Jeremy
you mentioned the
loosened rules of engagement.
Obviously, U.S.
National Security Adviser Jake
Sullivan is in the Middle East right now.
He's expressed the Biden administration's
concern about the intensity
of the IDF offensive.
Of course,
President Biden's desire
for Israel to tone it down.
How do you think this news
is going to play into
the tone of these talks?
Well, we'll have to wait and see.
I mean, hostage negotiations
are one of the key elements
of Jake Sullivan's visit in meetings
with Israeli officials.
But as you noted,
one of the other focuses
is indeed the civilian casualty count.
I mean, we have watched
there's now nearly
19,000 Palestinians
have been killed in Gaza.
Some of those combatants,
many of those noncombatants, including
over 7000 children
who are believed to be among
those who have been killed in Gaza,
according to the Palestinian
Ministry of Health.
And Jake Sullivan said earlier today
that he believes
Israel intends
to distinguish
between Hamas targets and civilians,
but that that intention
does not always line up
with the reality on the ground.
And that reality,
that mismatch
has really up
until now mostly
applied to Palestine and civilians.
But in this case,
it appears
to also be matching up to a reality
that has now affected
and resulted
in the loss of life of three
Israeli civilians.
Who were held hostage by Hamas
and unfortunately today
killed by Israeli forces.
All right, Jeremy Diamond,
thank you so much.
And joining us now is IDF spokesperson,
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus.
Jonathan, how did this happen?
What can you tell us
Yes, good evening.
It's ninth here
in Israel
and a very sad and tragic event,
one that the IDF, of course,
terribly regrets
and has told that to the families.
We are investigating how it happened.
One of the contributing
factors are obviously related to the fact
or can obviously be related
to the fact
that so far
what we have encountered
on the battlefield
are many Hamas
combatants that have been dressed
in civilian clothes.
And I'm quite sure
that that has been part of
the issue here.
But it's still very early to understand
and to say certain things.
And what we can say
and confirm is what we have issued.
Obviously, a very sad event.
Tragic event, of course, goes
against everything that
what we have been trying to do
for the last two months,
more than two months.
It's day 70 of the fighting.
But even sad events like this
will not shake our resolve.
And it will not divert us from the focus,
which is clear to dismantle families
and save lives.
Sir, you broke up there at the end.
But I'm curious
because you mentioned that
the IDF is still trying to get details
on exactly what transpired
in a statement from the IDF.
It says that immediate lessons
from the event have been learned,
which have been passed on
to all IDF troops in the field.
Can you share what those lessons were,
if there's going to be
a different approach by the IDF now
looking into how it happened,
how it came about,
that these hostages were out
and trying to understand
how that happened,
whether it was intentional or by Hamas
or whether it wasn't intentional.
And what we have told
our troops is to exercise caution
when being confronted with
people in civilian clothes.
Again,
part of the complexity here
is that
we're fighting in a civilian environment
where almost all of the RPG crews and the
groups that have
attacking our tanks
and our troops have been dressed
in civilian clothes.
And so it creates a very dynamic and
challenging combat environment.
And what we have told
our troops is to be extra vigilant
and do one more safety check before
dealing with kinetics with any threat
that they face on the battlefield.
But it is a very challenging environment
that our troops are.
Just a follow up on what you said.
You said these hostages were out.
Can you just expand on that a little bit?
What do you mean by that?
Just the circumstances around this.
And as we just heard
our Jeremy Diamond talk about the fact
that the rules of engagement
have been loosened
since the October 7th attack.
Do you think that could have played
a role
in the killings of these
three Israeli hostages?
I don't know what the
Jeremy base is that on.
And I am not aware of any different rules
of engagement.
Our rules of engagement
are those of a military
at war against the terrorist organization
that use the civilian infrastructure,
use the schools and hospitals
and mosques and ambulances
and all the things that we have seen
and you have reported
on during the last two months.
And so I am not aware
that we have changed
any of our rules of engagement.
There are according
to the laws of conflict
and according
to our standard practice in war.
And we will have to look into
and analyze exactly what happened
and what I can say so far
is that these the three Israelis,
former hostages, they were above ground
into the air
in close proximity to air
one of our units in the area
and then were misidentified
as posing a threat and therefore
Israeli troops followed the fortunate.