After denials for months, the Israeli military says there is a “high probability” its air strike was responsible for the deaths of three Israeli captives in Gaza in November.
The military on Sunday said it was unaware the captives were present in a tunnel in the Palestinian territory when they launched the attack on November 10, 2023.
The bodies of the three captives – Corporal Nik Beizer, Sergeant Ron Sherman and French-Israeli national Elia Toledano – were recovered on December 14. But the cause of death was not determined.
“The findings of the investigation suggest a high probability that the three were killed as a result of a byproduct of an [Israeli army] air strike, during the elimination of the Hamas Northern Brigade commander, Ahmed Ghandour, on November 10th, 2023,” the military said in a statement.
The military said its investigation revealed that the three captives had been held in a tunnel complex from which Ghandour operated.
“At the time of the strike, the [army] did not have information about the presence of hostages in the targeted compound,” the military statement said.
“Furthermore, there was information suggesting that they were located elsewhere, and thus the area was not designated as one with suspected presence of hostages.”
The three captives were among about 250 people kidnapped by the Palestinian group Hamas in its October 7 attack inside the Israeli territory. About 100 of them are still believed to be in Gaza.
In its report, the army said “it is not possible to definitely determine the circumstances of their deaths”.
‘Embarrassment’
The military’s conclusions could add further pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to strike a deal to bring home the remaining captives held by Hamas.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Hamdah Salhut said the Israeli army’s admission could be “an embarrassment” for the government. Salhut was reporting from Amman, Jordan because Al Jazeera has been banned by Israel.
“There have been a series of significant intelligence and security failures that the military has gone through throughout this war, the most notable of them back in December when the Israeli army shot and killed three captives in the Gaza Strip,” she said.
Salhut said the latest admission by the military “is not being received quite well because there are families of captives calling for a deal, fearing this exact type of thing”.
“It is certainly an embarrassment on all scales, not just politically but security-wise as well, that the army made this admission so many months later.”
‘Revelation will not end war’
Gideon Levy, a columnist at the Israeli daily Haaretz, said the revelation that Israel likely killed another three captives will hardly make a difference in ending the war in Gaza.
While the killings are further evidence that military pressure has failed to bring back Israeli captives home alive, it is a strategy that Netanyahu is resolute about, he said, adding that anger against the Israeli leader is still largely only coming from the opposition parties.
“That’s the camp that you see on TV protesting every week, with devotion every day … That’s the camp that does anything possible to make [Netanyahu] resign,” Levy told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv.
“But it’s just part of the picture, because those who support Netanyahu, their support is totally solid, and nothing will change it. Whatever Netanyahu will do, they will support it.”
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said the main question is whether or not the Israeli army killing the three captives was intentional.
“The pretext is that they [the army] want to liberate them and perhaps they do. However, they also know well even if they do special operations, and get to the tunnels and get to the captives, eventually, they are not going to be able to save them,” he said.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 attack, which killed more than 1,100 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli authorities. Since then, Israel’s military has killed at least 41,206 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.
