Israel's military says it is still gathering facts about the
fatal shooting,
and it did begin reviewing the incident immediately.
CNN's Alex Markwad with details from Tel Aviv.
In announcing the three tragic deaths of these Israeli hostages,
the Israeli military said that this is a sad and
painful incident.
They said that the IDF bears full responsibility for what
happened and launched an investigation into how these three men
Yotam Haim,
28 years old, Alon Shimri is 26 years old,
and Samar al Talalka, 25 years old.
How they were killed, what they know now and what
they've told the public is that these three men were
seen as a threat when they were spotted by Israeli
soldiers in the northeastern Gaza
neighborhood of Shajiya, where there has been heavy fighting,
the Israeli soldiers opening fire.
When those bodies were taken back to Israel,
they were confirmed to be among the more than 100
Israeli hostages.
Now there are a lot of questions that still remain.
The IDF says that they had been fiercely fighting Hamas
militants in the area,
many of whom had been wearing civilian clothing,
some of whom who weren't carrying weapons.
But they were suicide bombers.
A spokesman for the IDF was asked whether the men
were shouting or speaking in Hebrew,
whether they had their hands up.
He said that will be part of the investigation.
But he did speculate that these three may have either
escaped from captivity or they may have
been released as the militants fled S because
of the heavy pressure being put on them by the
IDF.
Which the IDF also issuing a warning to soldiers in
Gaza tonight to be much more vigilant
about civilians and also gave tips on how to identify
the remaining hostages. Now in the wake of the news,
a protest erupted in Tel Aviv at 10:30 in the
evening.
It started at the Kirya,
which is where Israel's Defense Ministry is based.
It's the equivalent of of Israel's Pentagon and marchers walked
all across the city for some three hours,
demanding that Israeli government bring the hostages home.
I spoke with one young man who said he wants
the government to do whatever they can to strike another
deal to bring more hostages home.
I spoke with a retired general who told me that
tonight was supposed to be a night of celebration,
that they were supposed to be marking 3 hostages who
had escaped from Hamas captivity.
Instead, he said everyone in Israel is crying,
failing to announce that, you know,
the to bring back the hostages is the number one
priority for this war.
And I think you know the the clock is ticking
and it's against the hostages.
We want to do everything we can to bring back
the hostages,
even to bring all the prisoner from Israel.
I don't know. We just want our family.
We just want our friends.
We are asking our government,
our cabinet, to do the best they can to find
more solution,
because we want our friends and we want our family.
Now that General Noam Tibone is actually a a hero,
considered a hero here in Israel for his acts on
October 7th,
he went on to tell me that the Netanyahu government
has to make a deal with the devil.
That's a reference to Hamas,
of course. He says that he is willing to pay
a very high price to get these hostages home.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Tel Aviv.