THE Israeli military has admitted there is a “high probability” that three hostages found dead months ago were killed in an airstrike carried out by its own forces.
The army on Sunday announced the conclusions of its investigation into the deaths of Cpl. Nik Beizer, Sgt. Ron Sherman and Elia Toledano.
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It said investigations had determined that the three were likely killed in a November airstrike that also killed a senior Hamas militant, Ahmed Ghandour.
All three of the hostages were kidnapped in Hamas’ October 7 attack.
Their bodies were recovered in December, but the cause of death was only recently determined.
In its report, the army said there was a high probability they were killed in the strike, based on where the bodies were recovered, pathological reports and other intelligence.
But it said: “It is not possible to definitely determine the circumstances of their deaths.”
The three hostages were held in the tunnel complex in Jabalia from which Ghandour operated.
The IDF added that at the time of the strike it did not have information about the presence of hostages in the targeted compound.
The investigation 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.”
It reiterated that throughout the war, the IDF has not struck areas where there are indications or suspicions of the presence of hostages.
The investigation added: “The IDF shares in the grief of the families over the devastating loss and will continue to accompany them.
“The IDF continues, even at this moment, to exert all efforts to fulfil the paramount national mission of bringing all of the hostages home.”
The conclusions could add pressure on the government to strike a deal to bring home the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
Critics say it is too difficult and dangerous to try to rescue them.
In December, the IDF accidentally shot and killed three hostages, Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer Al-Talalka, fearing they were Hamas operatives posing as hostages.
While in February, the IDF also said it was likely an airstrike had killed hostage Yossi Sharabi, though as his body had not been recovered, said the chances he had been killed by Hamas could not be ruled out.
The news comes after the Yemen-based Houthi rebels hit central Israel with a ballistic missile for the first time and swore to unleash more strikes.
Israel said the rocket – which travelled some 1,270 miles from Yemen in just over 11 minutes – fell in an open area and nobody was hurt.
Israel hinted that it would respond militarily.
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A fire could be seen in a rural area of central Israel, and local media showed images of what appeared to be a fragment from an interceptor that landed on an escalator in a train station in the central town of Modiin.
The Israeli military said it made several attempts to intercept the missile using its multitiered air defences but had not yet determined whether any had been successful.
It said the missile appeared to have fragmented mid-air, and that the incident is still under review.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group used a new hypersonic ballistic missile in its attack.
The rocket landed at around 6.35am local time in central Israel, near Lod just outside Tel Aviv.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Houthis will face a “heavy price” for the attack.
He said: “We are in a multi-arena campaign against Iran’s evil axis that strives to destroy us.
“They should have known by now that we exact a heavy price for any attempt to harm us.”
Footage shared online showed plumes of smoke pouring out from the bushes near where the missile landed.
A crater could be seen in the soil.
Life for the hostages under Hamas
By Alan Mendoza, Founder and the Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society
HAMAS is a terrorist organisation who on October the 7th murdered and brutalised over a thousand Israelis.
I don’t think any of us are surprised to hear this news because of how Hamas behaves in general, what horrors they’re prepared to put Israelis and indeed Palestinians through.
They would want to be doing the minimum to keep them alive, to keep their leverage power in order to use them for their own purposes. But they would have been suffering, I’m sure, for much of that time.
Whether it was directly in the sense of being beaten, or just from the neglect of 11 months of living in terrible conditions.
We’ve seen how they have gone out and shot and tortured their own people.
It does, once again show why Israel is fighting this conflict.
This is an organisation that just does not respect human rights, human values and would gladly do what it did on October 7th again.
What Hamas hoped to do by murdering those hostages was indeed to spark this reaction inside Israel.
On a human level, we can entirely understand why so many Israelis are concerned. We can understand why so many people have come out to say, we need to save these hostages.
Israel’s gone up to great lengths in the past to try and recover live hostages, but even dead bodies, in order to give a proper burial.
But the plain reality is that there’s a very difficult choice for the Israeli government to make.
It either has to surrender the idea of beating Hamas, or, Hamas will regroup and will restock and will reappear.
Or it has to trust that it reaches the hostages before Hamas kills them, which is a very difficult dilemma to make.
It’s a very different phase to back in November when both sides could afford to pause more, the Israelis could and Hamas could as well.
Now Hamas, of course, desperately wants to pause because they’re under tremendous pressure.
The Israelis do want to pause, but they also know that Hamas are under tremendous pressure and do they want to let that up?
The Houthis have repeatedly fired missiles at Israel as a sign of solidarity with Iran-backed terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah – all in conflict with Israel.
This is the first one to penetrate so far into Israeli airspace, only one has previously hit territory inside the country.
It fell in another open area near the Red Sea port of Eliat in March.
Israel boasts a fierce air defence system known as the “Iron Dome”, one of the world’s most advanced networks of aerial protection.
The group – responsible for vicious attacks on Israel or Israeli-allied ships in the Red Sea since October last year – have also aimed drones at Israel.
One hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July, killing a man and injuring four others.
This led to IDF airstrikes on Houthi targets near the port of Hodeidah in Yemen, where they are based.
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