The three hostages who escaped from Hamas clutches only to be mistakenly shot dead by Israeli troops had been carrying a makeshift white flag, according to a preliminary investigation.
Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka and Alon Shamriz were killed by IDF troops in Gaza in a military blunder that has led to protests in Tel Aviv.
A preliminary IDF investigation has found that the troops did not follow the army's rule of engagement and felt 'threatened' by the hostages, who were shirtless after managing to escape.
According to the investigation a soldier who was stationed on one of the upper floors of a building in the area identified three figures who held a long stick that had a white fabric attached to it.
The report states that, for some reason, the soldier opened fire on the group.
Two hostages were hit and fell to the ground, and the third escaped into a nearby building.
An IDF squad nearby followed the third hostage into the building and he was shouting in Hebrew, asking for help.
"Immediately the battalion commander issues a ceasefire order, but again there's another burst of fire towards the third figure and he also dies," said the official.
"This was against our rules of engagement," he added.
The military on Friday identified the three hostages as Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz, abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Samer Talalka, abducted from nearby Kibbutz Nir Am, all kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.
