Israel admits it ‘killed three hostages by mistake’ during air strike that killed top Hamas commander in the Palestinian territory

Israel has admitted there is a “high probability” that its military killed three hostages taken by Hamas in an airstrike in November.

The bodies of Corporal Nik Beizer, Sergeant Ron Sherman and French-Israeli Elia Toledano were returned to Israel in December after being taken by Hamas militants during the deadly raid on October 7.

The IDF said in a statement today that the three men “were killed as a result of an IDF airstrike during the elimination of Hamas Northern Brigade commander Ahmed Ghandour on November 10, 2023.”

The military claimed the men were in a tunnel complex where the top Hamas commander was hiding.

“At the time of the attack, the IDF had no information about the presence of hostages in the targeted compound,” the military said.

‘In addition, there was information indicating that they were elsewhere, and therefore the area was not designated as an area where hostages were likely to be present.’

A spokesperson for the Hostage Families Forum told MailOnline: ‘This underlines the serious risk to the lives of hostages in captivity. Every moment that passes puts them in further danger.

“We know that the hostages are being held in inhumane conditions, tortured by Hamas and deprived of basic human rights. The only way to ensure their safe return is through a negotiated deal and not through military pressure.”

The retaliatory attack on the Gaza Strip, which has been going on for eleven months now, has been widely condemned by Israelis, many of whom have protested to call for an end to the war.

Photos from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in recent weeks showed scores of Israelis protesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to continue the military operation in Gaza, accusing him of not doing enough to secure a ceasefire for the remaining 97 hostages.

The conflict has spread further across the Middle East, with Iran and allied militant groups attacking Israeli and American targets, provoking retaliatory attacks from Israel and its Western allies. On several occasions, the attacks and counterattacks have threatened to spark a wider conflict.

A rocket fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels landed in an open area in central Israel early Sunday, setting off air raid sirens at the international airport, in the latest echoes of the nearly year-long war in Gaza. Israel has hinted it would respond militarily.

There were no reports of casualties or major damage, but Israeli media broadcast images of people running for shelters at Ben Gurion International Airport. The airport authority said it resumed normal operations shortly afterward.

A fire was seen in a rural area in central Israel and local media showed footage of what appeared to be a fragment of an interceptor missile hitting an escalator at a train station in the central city of Modiin.

The Israeli military said the surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by Israel’s defense system, which hit and fragmented the target, but did not destroy it. It said the missile appeared to have fragmented in mid-air. The military said the sound of explosions in the area came from interceptors.

The Yemeni rebels, known as the Houthis, have repeatedly fired drones and rockets into Israel since the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. However, almost all of these rockets have been intercepted over the Red Sea.

In July, Tel Aviv was struck by an Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis, killing one person and wounding 10 others. Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas in Yemen, including the port city of Hodeidah, a Houthis stronghold.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at a similar reaction in his remarks at a cabinet meeting after Sunday’s attack.

“The Houthis should have known by now that we exact a high price for any attempt to harm us,” he said. “Anyone who needs a reminder is invited to visit the port of Hodeidah.”

Brigadier General Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the rebels, said they had fired a ballistic missile aimed at “a military target” in the Tel Aviv area.

The Houthis have also repeatedly attacked commercial vessels in the Red Sea, in what the rebels portray as a blockade of Israel in support of the Palestinians. Most of the vessels targeted have no connection to Israel.

On Sunday, a European Union naval mission operating in the Red Sea said salvage workers had begun towing a tanker that had been on fire for weeks following a Houthi attack. Operations Aspides said the Greek-flagged Sounion was being taken to a “safe location.”

Hezbollah has said it would halt its attacks if a ceasefire were reached in Gaza. The United States and Arab mediators Egypt and Qatar have spent much of this year trying to broker a ceasefire and the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas, but the talks have repeatedly stalled.

In recent weeks, Netanyahu has pushed for continued Israeli control over the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, which Israeli forces captured in May. He has said that Hamas was using a network of tunnels under the border to import weapons, accusations denied by Egypt, which joins Hamas in opposing a continued Israeli presence there.

An Israeli military official said Saturday night that of the dozens of tunnels discovered along the border, only nine entered Egypt and all were sealed off. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, said it was not clear when the tunnels were sealed off.

The discovery appears to undermine Netanyahu’s argument that Israel must maintain unfettered control over the corridor to prevent smuggling across the border.

Egypt says it closed the tunnels on its side of the border years ago, partly by creating its own military buffer zone along the border.