IDF Accidentally Kills 3 Hostages Transcript

… out to Israel where outraged families protested overnight after Israeli defense forces confirmed they accidentally killed three hostages. ABC’s foreign correspondent Britt Clinic is in Tel Aviv with the latest. Britt, good morning.

Good morning, Whit. I’m here at what’s become known as Hostage Square. People are paying tribute with ribbons and letters. The families here, they’re upset, but they’re also angry after three hostages were killed by Israeli fire. And guys, we’re just getting a preliminary report from the IDF saying those hostages, they came out with white cloth tied to a stick, and yet they were still shot at.

(00:40)
This morning, outrage after Israeli military admits to accidentally shooting and killing three Israeli hostages in Northern Gaza Friday, protesters gathering in Tel Aviv demanding answers. Like Yuval Baron, the son-in-law of hostage, Keith Siegel, also an American citizen.

All the hostages we got back in the last few days were all dead bodies, and these people are still alive, can still be saved through proper negotiation like was done before.

The men now identified as 28-year-old Yotam Haim, 26-year-old Alan Shamriz, and 22-year-old Samer Talalka. The IDF claiming troops. Misidentified the hostages as fighters during intense combat in the city of [inaudible 00:01:24].

(01:23)
What went wrong?

Well, obviously we misidentified hostages for enemy combatants and sadly shot them. It is something that sadly can be expected of such a chaotic battlefield.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, calling the deaths an unbearable tragedy, saying the entire state of Israel will mourn this evening. The IDF telling me they can’t guarantee this won’t happen again.

(01:50)
You can’t rule out that more hostages inside Gaza are going to die at the hands of Israeli soldiers.

No. No. Hopefully not die at the hands of our soldiers, but definitely that there will be instances like this in the future, so we cannot rule that out.

So far, at least 20 Israeli hostages have died and more than 100 are thought to remain in Gaza. This is Hamas launched a rare rocket attack at Jerusalem earlier in the day, air raid sirens sounding the alarm for the first time in over a month. Video streamed online shows crowds of civilians running in terror near the Western wall. At least three of the rockets were intercepted by Israeli Iron Dome defense systems. Now the family is here, they’re pushing for negotiations. One man I spoke to, whose son is still in Gaza, he said it’s been 71 days. What are they waiting for? How many more hostages need to die? Stephanie?

An absolutely heartbreaking situation. Britt, thank you.