Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his country on Saturday night about the tragic accident that unfolded late this week in which three of the Israeli hostages that were taken by Hamas were accidentally killed inside Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday that it “mistakenly identified 3 Israeli hostages as a threat and as a result, fired toward them and the hostages were killed.”
The three hostages — Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka, and Alon Shamriz — were all kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas terrorists during their unprecedented attack on October 7.
The IDF said that they immediately launched an investigation into the incident and that it has learned “immediate lessons” that have since “been passed on to all IDF troops in the field.”
“The IDF expresses deep remorse over the tragic incident and sends the families its heartfelt condolences,” the statement added. “Our national mission is to locate the missing and return all the hostages home.”
During his address to Israel, which was given in Hebrew and translated by his office, Netanyahu said that the country mourned the tragic deaths of the three hostages.
“When I was updated about the terrible tragedy – it struck me hard,” he said. “Alon, Samar and Yotam survived hell for 72 days, they were almost one step from freedom, they had touched redemption and then disaster struck. It broke my heart. It broke the entire country’s heart. Our heart goes out to the families in their time of deep mourning.”
“At this difficult time, it is important for me to stand by our soldiers,” he continued. “They are giving their lives to achieve a crushing victory over our enemies and return our hostages. We are doing – and will do – everything to safeguard the lives of our soldiers, each and every one of them, and we will use all means so that they are not hurt.”
Netanyahu added that despite international pressure from anti-Israel voices, the country would not let up its military campaign against Hamas because “military pressure is essential both for returning the hostages and achieving victory over our enemies.”
“Without the military pressure, we would not have succeeded in creating an outline that led to the release of 110 hostages,” he said. “And only continued military pressure will lead to the release of all of our hostages. My directive to the negotiating team is based on this pressure, without which we would have nothing.”