Israeli hostages killed in Gaza were holding white flag

People hold signs as they protest following an announcement by Israel’s military that they had mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, at a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel on Friday. REUTERS

Three Israeli hostages killed mistakenly in Gaza by Israeli forces had been holding up a white flag, a military official said on Saturday, citing an initial inquiry into the incident that has shaken the country.
A soldier saw the hostages emerging tens of metres from Israeli forces on Friday in Shejaiya, an area of intense combat in northern Gaza, the official said.
“They’re all without shirts and they have a stick with a white cloth on it. The soldier feels threatened and opens fire. They (the Israeli forces) open fire. Two (hostages) are killed immediately,” the official told reporters in a phone briefing.
The third hostage was wounded and retreated into a nearby building where he called for help in Hebrew, the official said.
“Immediately the battalion commander issues a ceasefire order, but again there’s another burst of fire towards the third figure and he also dies,” the official said. “This was against our rules of engagement,” he added.
The military on Friday identified the three hostages killed in Shejaiya, an eastern suburb of Gaza City, as Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz, abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Samer Al-Talalka, abducted from nearby Kibbutz Nir Am.
Around 300 people turned out to mourn Al-Talalka, 25, at his funeral on Saturday in his hometown of Hura, in southern Israel.
“We had so many hopes, expectations, that he would come back to us,” his cousin, Alaa Al-Talalka told Israel’s public broadcaster Kan from his Bedouin community’s mourning tent.
More than 100 hostages remain in Gaza, held incommunicado.
More than 100, women, children, teens and foreigners were released in a deal struck in late November. Others have been declared dead by Israeli authorities.
The news on Friday that three had been killed by Israeli forces prompted a late-night protest outside Israel’s defence headquarters in Tel Aviv, where hostage families were expected to deliver a statement later on Saturday.
One father said each day left families guessing whether they will be next to receive bad news.