The Israel Defense Forces has released images depicting banners created by the three Israeli hostages before their tragic death on Friday. The soldiers mistakenly killed them, believing they were terrorists on the battlefield. The banners, constructed from white sheets with red lettering made from leftover food, were displayed in Shejaiya, northern Gaza, bearing the messages “SOS” in English and “Help, 3 hostages” in Hebrew script.
Yotam Chaim, 28, a heavy metal drummer; Samar Fouad Talalka, 22, an Arab agricultural worker; and Alon Lulu Shamriz, 26, a computer engineering student, were abducted by Hamas during the October 7 terror attack and survived 70 days in captivity. While the full details of their escape remain unknown, it seems they managed to flee their captors or were abandoned.
Despite the soldiers noticing the messages, they avoided the building, suspecting it might be booby-trapped. As reported earlier, Hamas employs decoys, such as children’s toys and Hebrew recordings, to lure Israeli troops searching for hostages into deadly ambushes.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi commended the hostages for their efforts, stating last night, “I think the three hostages did everything possible so that we would understand – they moved around shirtless so that we wouldn’t suspect them of carrying explosives and they held a white cloth, but the tension [of battle] overcame all of the above.”
Halevi visited the commanders and soldiers of the 99th Division in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, emphasizing the need for soldiers to exercise caution before firing, despite the inherent dangers.
His full remarks (via IDF translation):
I tell you very simply – this situation is a very difficult and painful one, and no one will come and say otherwise. But beyond that, and we all understand this, I don’t need to come and tell you this. I tell you that this situation could easily have not happened.
Think about it, why did we start the ground operation? We set three goals: to dismantle Hamas, to restore security to the residents of the communities near the Gaza Strip, and you here on the corridor, from which such harsh attacks on Be’eri originated, and the third task is the return of the hostages. Now we all very much want this. And I tell you, in this situation, three people came out, they took into account that they are taking a risk by approaching IDF troops, to minimize the risk they really thought, they took off their shirts so that no one would think they have an explosive device and held a white cloth on a pole to identify themselves, they came speaking Hebrew, calling for help.
And we really, our soldiers whom I haven’t met yet, but I’m sure they are the best because everyone wants to do well, and I’m sure they were confident they were doing the right thing. I’m speaking to you not to say if they were right or wrong, but so that we will be right going forward.
You see two people, they are with hands up and without shirts, take two seconds, and I want to tell you something just as important, and if it’s two Gazans with a white flag coming out to surrender why would we shoot at them? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. That’s not the IDF. I’m telling you whoever got confused here, even those who fought and now lay down their arms and raise their hands, we arrest them, we don’t shoot them. We get a lot of intelligence from the captives we have, we already have over a thousand. We don’t shoot them because the IDF doesn’t shoot a person who raises their hands. That’s strength, not weakness.
And I tell you, I remember, what I said to my soldiers as a battalion commander before entering into Cast Lead [in 2008-2009], the last sentence in the briefing before fighting. Use your head. We always feel that fighting is with the hands, fighting is with the feet. I tell you gentlemen, don’t stop thinking for a second in combat. Whoever succeeds during the fighting to also uses his head, he hits the enemy better, gets hit less, he performs tactics better, he hurts our forces less, everything he does better, he is sharper on the environment, he identifies things. Always ask yourself questions, always work with your head, and hopefully, we will have another opportunity where captives will come to us or we will reach a house, and do the right thing. Continue to do excellent work, it is a great and strong force and we will need it going forward with the commanders, pass this also to all the soldiers.
The deaths of the hostages was a heavy blow to Israeli morale, but the country has begun to rally again, as the fighting continues.
This was NO MISTAKE! Actually, their SOS banner got the attention of the Arabs in control that got them murdered.