Leaked audio reveals last minutes of hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli Defence Forces

Audio of the haunting pleas and shouts of three Gaza hostages identifying themselves as captives and begging for help before they were killed by Israeli troops has been leaked.

Alon Lulu Shamriz, who was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023, and was killed mistakenly by IDF troops in Gaza on December 15, 2023.

The haunting pleas and shouts of three Gaza hostages identifying themselves as captives begging for help in the minutes before they were mistakenly killed by Israeli troops has been leaked by local media.

A recording of the hostages’ last minutes was obtained from a camera attached to a dog from the Israeli Defence Forces brigade and posted on social media by Kan news, Israel’s public radio broadcaster. The dog was reortedly shot by Hamas as it entered the building where the hostages were sheltering but the device continued to record.

Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer El-Talalqa were captured on October 7 when Hamas stormed southern Israel. They were being held inside a building in Gaza when IDF troops arrived but despite identifying themselves as hostages, they were killed.

At the time, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military “bears responsibility for everything that happened”.

“We believe that the three Israelis either escaped or were abandoned by terrorists who held them captive,” he said.

בלעדי: הקלטות הגבורה של אלון שמריז – כך ניסה להציל את עצמו ואת חבריו מהשבי בלב עזה | לכתבה המלאה >>> https://t.co/[e-mail]/NYSy6NniAG

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) March 3, 2024

In the recording, Mr Shamriz and Mr Haim can be heard yelling “save us” and “we’re hostages,” before gunshots ring out.

According to Khan, Mr Shamriz, an IDF soldier, knew the dog would be carrying a Go-Pro and hoped Israeli troops would hear the men’s shouts and rescue them.

Instead they were wrongly identified as Hamas members and shot.

The IDF said in a statement: “During combat in Shejaiya (a battleground neighbourhood of Gaza City), the IDF (army) mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat. As a result, the troops fired toward them and they were killed.”

The recording was leaked as peace talks between Israel and Hamas hovered on a knife edge after the militant group refused to provide Israel with a list of the 130 remaining hostages in Gaza – including more than 30 feared dead.

The Times of Israel reports that Israel won’t send a negotiating team to Cairo to discuss a proposed six week truce, despite a push to stop the fighting before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

According to Channel 12, the war cabinet agreed there was no point in sending a delegation to Egypt given Hamas’ intractability over the hostages and its demand that the Israeli armed forces entirely withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

Complicating negotiations is the non-appearance of Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar who has not been in touch with negotiators for at least a week, and without whose say-so the deal may not be implemented.

Israeli media is reporing that Jerusalem believes Sinwar has no intention of reaching an agreement in the coming days and hopes to escalate violence over Ramadan.