Army officially admits killing of 3 Israeli hostages in December's Gaza attack

JERUSALEM

The Israeli army admitted on Sunday that the three captives whose bodies were discovered last December were killed by Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

The army has officially informed the families of the captives Ron Sherman (a soldier), Nik Beizer (a soldier), and Elia Toledano that they were killed in an airstrike on Gaza, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.

This is the first confirmation from the Israeli army of what the same TV channel reported a few days earlier.

On Monday, Channel 12 reported that the Israeli army was unaware of the presence of the three captives “near a senior Hamas official who was targeted,” resulting in their deaths alongside him.

The channel noted that the Israeli army knew about these details since last February but chose not to release them to the public.

In December, the Israeli army announced that the bodies of three captives taken alive by Hamas on Oct. 7 had been recovered.

At the time, the Israeli army stated that their bodies were found in a tunnel in Gaza and confirmed that an investigation into the incident had been launched.

According to the broadcaster, “In January, the families of the three captives were informed of the pathological findings, which indicated that the two soldiers and the third captive were in the tunnel where the commander of the northern division in Gaza, Ahmad Ghandour, was killed.”

However, the army refused to acknowledge this information, claiming that the cause of death could not be determined, whether from suffocation or poisoning.

As the families of the slain captives demanded answers, "additional tests were conducted, which clearly revealed that the captives were killed in an Israeli army attack, and it was decided not to release this information."

However, “senior army officials, including the Chief of Staff (Herzi) Halevi, decided not to make this public,” according to the broadcaster.

In response, Channel 12 confirmed that Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari denied the allegations that the chief of staff had concealed the investigation as false.

The Israeli army has previously admitted on several occasions to the killing of Israeli captives in Gaza by airstrikes or direct gunfire.

Israel currently imprisons at least 9,500 Palestinians, with an estimated 101 Israelis being held in Gaza. Hamas said Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of hostages.

Indirect negotiations between Tel Aviv and Hamas have reached a critical stage, as Netanyahu remains committed to continuing the war in Gaza and controlling key areas in the south and center of the strip, such as the Philadelphi and Netzarim Corridors. Hamas, on the other hand, demands a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the return of those displaced without restrictions.

Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last October despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 41,200 victims, mostly women and children, have since been killed and nearly 95,400 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population in the enclave amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel faces accusations of genocide for its actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala