Israeli military mistakenly kills 3 hostages, US envoy to meet Palestinian president

PTI, Dec 16, 2023, 9:35 AM IST

Representative image

Rafah: The Israeli military on Friday mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages during its ground operation in the Gaza Strip, military officials said.

The army’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said Israeli troops found the hostages and erroneously identified them as a threat. He said it was not clear if they had escaped their captors or been abandoned.

The deaths occurred in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where troops have engaged in fierce battles against Hamas militants in recent days. He said the army expressed “deep sorrow” and was investigating.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian president was set to meet Friday with US officials to discuss postwar arrangements for Gaza that could include reactivating Palestinian security forces driven out by Hamas in its 2007 takeover of the territory.

Any role for Palestinian security forces in Gaza is bound to elicit strong opposition from Israel, which seeks to maintain an open-ended security presence there. The Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but is deeply unpopular with Palestinians.

While Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it wipes out Gaza’s Hamas rulers, the international call for a cease-fire has grown in volume. Israel has drawn international outrage and rare criticism from the US — its main ally — over the killing of civilians.

More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Israel says 116 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking about 240 hostages.

Here’s what’s happening in the war:

3 ISRAELI HOSTAGES MISTAKENLY KILLED DURING GROUND OPERATION, ISRAEL MILITARY SAYS

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages during its ground operation in the Gaza Strip.

The army’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, says Israeli troops found the hostages on Friday and erroneously identified them as a threat. He said it was not clear if they had escaped their captors or been abandoned.

The incident occurred in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where troops have engaged in fierce battles against Hamas militants in recent days.

He said the army expressed “deep sorrow” and was investigating.

AL JAZEERA JOURNALIST KILLED DURING ISRAELI STRIKE, NETWORK SAYS

RAFAH, Gaza Strip: — Al Jazeera television said Friday an Israeli strike killed one of its journalists in Gaza, Palestinian cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa.

The strike also wounded the Qatari-owned network’s chief correspondent in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh. The two were reporting on the grounds of a school in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis when the strike hit, the network said.

Before Abu Daqqa’s death, at least 63 journalists have been killed since the conflict erupted between Hamas and Israel on October 7, according to the media freedom organization, The Committee to Protect Journalists. They include 56 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese.

LUFTHANSA SAYS FLIGHTS TO TEL AVIV WILL RESUME IN NEW YEAR

BERLIN –- German airline Lufthansa says that it and its subsidiaries plan to resume flights to Tel Aviv in the new year.

The company said Friday that flights will resume on January 8. It says Lufthansa will initially operate four flights per week from Frankfurt and three from Munich, Austrian Airlines will run eight flights per week and Swiss will operate five. That’s about 30 per cent of the regular flight schedule.

Lufthansa and its subsidiaries suspended regular flights to Tel Aviv on October 9.

Flights to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, also have been suspended, but were resumed on Friday by Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings.

(AP)