Recently, there was yet another case of mistakenly killed Israeli citizens by the IDF but this time, rather than being some of the attendees of the October 7 Nova music festival, they were instead three hostages held by Hamas. Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka and Alon Lulu Shamriz were among those kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attacks. The three hostages were shot by troops operating in Shejaiya, in Gaza’s north after they were misidentified as a threat.
How The IDF Responded
The IDF released an official statement about the Friday incident, announcing that they will undergo a thorough investigation of the incident. They also expressed deep remorse over the killing of the Israeli hostages and conveyed their heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased. Along with the statement, the IDF also mentioned that they intend to return all hostages to Israel, “Our national mission is to locate the missing and return all the hostages home.”
How The General Public Responded
The entire incident sparked a massive protest in front of the military headquarters of Tel Aviv where Israeli citizens are currently calling for a deal with Hamas to see the release of all hostages held in Gaza. On the other side of the coin, the entire incident sparked yet another wave of anger from Palestine’s supporters with social media users taking to Instagram to express their frustration.
One user commented on the hostage killings by asking a simple and ironic question “The hostages they started this whole genocide for?” Another user was confused as to how the IDF did not take this as an opportunity to once again lie, “I am surprised they did not lie and blame it on Hamas… there must be a video or something they know would come out…”
The overall frustration is indicative of the global need for an end to the violence, genocide and ongoing kidnappings that have not just been occurring in the past 70 days but rather, for more than 70 years.