The Israeli military said the accidental killing of three Israeli hostages by Israeli forces in the middle of the month was not "malicious" but "the right action" based on the circumstances.
The Israeli military released on Thursday (December 28) the report of the investigation into the accidental killing of three Israeli hostages by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on December 15.
The Israeli military said the troops mistook the cries for help from the three hostages for a trap set for them by Hamas militants and were preparing to ambush them.
The Israeli military concluded that the hostage killing was "not a malicious act, and that the soldiers acted correctly based on their judgment of the situation."
However, the statement also said that IDF Chief of Staff Al-Khalevi "stressed the extreme importance of complying with standard operating procedures" and that "in the absence of a direct threat and the identification of a non-obvious enemy, it must be double-checked whenever the situation allows."
The Israeli military admitted on 15 December that it had mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages during a ground operation in the Gaza Strip that day. This is the first incident in which Israeli troops have mistakenly killed hostages since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The Israeli army said in a statement that the manslaughter took place in Shejaiya, north Gaza, and that soldiers mistakenly viewed the three kidnapped Israelis as a threat and approached them during the exchange of fire. Israeli army spokesman Hagari said the military "bears full responsibility for the incident."
The three Israeli hostages, all men in their 20s, were taken captive during a Hamas raid into southern Israel on 7 October.