Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘I bow my head in deep sorrow’ over accidental Israeli hostages’ deaths
In a tweet on Friday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the accidental killings of three Israeli hostages by the Israel Defense Forces, saying:
Together with the entire people of Israel, I bow my head in deep sorrow and mourn the fall of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped, among them Yotam Chaim and Samer Fouad al-Talalka.
This is an unbearable tragedy. The entire state of Israel will mourn this evening. My heart goes out to the grieving families in their difficult time.
I strengthen our brave warriors who penetrate the sacred mission of returning our abducted, even at the cost of their lives.
Even on this difficult evening, we will bind up our wounds, learn the lessons and continue with a supreme effort to return all our abductees home safely.
יחד עם כל עם ישראל אני מרכין ראש בצער עמוק ומבכה את נפילתם של שלושה מבנינו היקרים שנחטפו, וביניהם יותם חיים וסאמר פואד אל-טלאלקה.
זוהי טרגדיה קשה מנשוא. מדינת ישראל כולה אבלה בערב זה. ליבי עם המשפחות הדואבות בשעת יגונן הקשה.
אני מחזק את לוחמינו האמיצים שחדורים במשימה הקדושה…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 15, 2023
Key events
Human Rights Watch: US should back UN security council to protect Gaza civilians
The US should back the UN security council’s action to protect Gaza’s civilians, the Human Rights Watch said.
The HRW’s UN director, Louis Charbonneau, said on Friday that the US should act at the UN security council to “pressure Israel, as well as Palestinian armed groups, to comply with international humanitarian law and protect civilians”.
Charbonneau added that the US should also support calls to restore essential services to Gaza and allow humanitarian aid to reach all those in need.
He went on to criticize what he called the US’s “double standards”, saying:
The US voting record at the UN has highlighted double standards in Washington’s commitment to the laws of war. While blocking two security council resolutions in October and December, the US abstained from a November vote on a resolution focused on the plight of children in Gaza, which enabled it to pass.
All three security council resolutions – the two that were vetoed and the one adopted – called on Israel to protect civilians and allow aid into Gaza and on Palestinian armed groups to release civilians held hostage. The one that passed is legally binding but Israel and Palestinian armed groups have defied it.
He added:
No permanent security council member – not the US, not Russia – should veto resolutions aimed at stopping mass atrocities.
The third Israeli hostage who was mistakenly killed by the Israel Defense Forces has been identified.
The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum has identified 26-year old Alon Shamriz, who lived in the Young Generation neighborhood of Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
He was described as a dedicated basketball fan who played on the Sha’ar Hanegev basketball team. The forum reports that Shamriz had been accepted to study computer engineering at Sapir College and was about to begin his first year there.
The other two hostages who were mistakenly killed by the Israel Defense Forces have been identified as 25-year old Samer Fouad Al-Talalka and 28-year old Yotam Haim.
Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘I bow my head in deep sorrow’ over accidental Israeli hostages’ deaths
In a tweet on Friday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the accidental killings of three Israeli hostages by the Israel Defense Forces, saying:
Together with the entire people of Israel, I bow my head in deep sorrow and mourn the fall of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped, among them Yotam Chaim and Samer Fouad al-Talalka.
This is an unbearable tragedy. The entire state of Israel will mourn this evening. My heart goes out to the grieving families in their difficult time.
I strengthen our brave warriors who penetrate the sacred mission of returning our abducted, even at the cost of their lives.
Even on this difficult evening, we will bind up our wounds, learn the lessons and continue with a supreme effort to return all our abductees home safely.
יחד עם כל עם ישראל אני מרכין ראש בצער עמוק ומבכה את נפילתם של שלושה מבנינו היקרים שנחטפו, וביניהם יותם חיים וסאמר פואד אל-טלאלקה.
זוהי טרגדיה קשה מנשוא. מדינת ישראל כולה אבלה בערב זה. ליבי עם המשפחות הדואבות בשעת יגונן הקשה.
אני מחזק את לוחמינו האמיצים שחדורים במשימה הקדושה…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 15, 2023
The US senator Bernie Sanders is demanding answers on Israel’s “indiscriminate” bombing across Gaza.
The Guardian’s Stephanie Kirchgaessner reports:
The US’s support for Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza is facing new scrutiny in Washington following a proposed resolution by the independent senator Bernie Sanders that could ultimately be used to curtail military assistance.
It is far from clear whether Sanders has the support to pass the resolution, but its introduction in the Senate this week – by an important progressive ally of the US president, Joe Biden – highlights mounting human rights and political concerns by Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Citing the killing of nearly 19,000 people and wounding of more than 50,000 in Gaza since Hamas’s brutal 7 October attack, Sanders said it was time to force a debate on the bombing that has been carried out by the rightwing government of the Israel prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the US government’s “complicity” in the war.
For the full story, click here:
Psychosocial support teams from the Palestine Red Crescent Society have visited Palestinians displaced by Israeli strikes at al-Amal hospital and the PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis.
The teams sought to provide patients with psychological first aid to “alleviate their anxiety amid the continuous bombardment in the governate”, the PRCS said.
🫶The PRCS Psychosocial support team reassures displaced people at PRCS Al-Amal Hospital and the PRCS headquarters in #KhanYounis, providing them with initial psychological first aid❤️to alleviate their anxiety amid the continuous bombardment in the governorate.#Gaza pic.twitter.com/PyvEDN1bgR
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 15, 2023
Al Jazeera has released a full statement on the killing of its journalist Samer Abudaqa in an Israeli airstrike:
Al Jazeera Media Network condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli drone attack on a Gaza school that resulted in the killing of cameraman Samer Abudaqa.
The Network holds Israel accountable for systematically targeting and killing Al Jazeera journalists and their families. In today’s bombing in Khan Younis, Israeli drones fired missiles at a school where civilians sought refuge, resulting in indiscriminate casualties. Following Samer’s injury, he was left to bleed to death for over 5 hours, as Israeli forces prevented ambulances and rescue workers from reaching him, denying the much-needed emergency treatment.
Al Jazeera Media Network extends its sincere condolences to the family in Gaza and in Belgium of the late colleague Samer Abudaqa.
With the killing of Samer Abudaqa number of journalists and media workers killed in Gaza reached over 90.
Al Jazeera urges the international community, media freedom organisations, and the International Criminal Court to take immediate action to hold the Israeli government and military accountable for these acts of carnage and crimes against humanity.
Details are starting to emerge of the Israeli hostages who were mistakenly killed by the Israel Defense Forces on Friday.
According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Samer Fouad Al-Talalka, who was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October, was 25 years old when he was killed.
Al-Talalka lived in Hura, a Bedouin town in southern Israel. He had worked with his father and brothers at a chicken hatchery near Kibbutz Nir Am and was the eldest of 10 children.
The forum also reports that Yotam Haim, another hostage who was mistakenly killed by the IDF, was 28 years old.
Haim lived in Kibbutz Kfar Aza and was a dedicated metal music fan. He had played the drums for 20 years and was part of a band called Persephore. Haim is survived by two parents, as well as a brother and a sister.
Details have yet to be revealed about the third hostage who was killed.
Al Jazeera says journalist killed in Israeli missile attack in Khan Younis
Al Jazeera has announced that its journalist Samer Abudaqa has been killed in an Israeli missile attack on Friday.
The outlet reports that Abudaqa was working alongside its bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh, and both were reporting at Farhana school in Khan Younis in southern Gaza when they were attacked by Israeli missiles.
Al Jazeera reports that Abudaqa was trapped in the school for hours and was unable to be reached by paramedics due to heavy Israeli shelling around the area.
Meanwhile, Dahdouh, who was hit by shrapnel on the upper arm, was able to reach Nasser hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries, Al Jazeera reports.
Dahdouh, whose wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed in an Israeli airstrike in October, had warned that Abudaqa was “critically injured”.
Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqa has been killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a school in Gaza’s Khan Younis.
Medical teams were prevented by Israeli forces from reaching him after he was critically wounded ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/oWLeNll8F4
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 15, 2023
At least 63 journalists and media workers in Gaza have been killed by Israeli strikes since 7 October, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Israel Defense Forces has said it cannot guarantee the safety of journalists operating in Gaza.
Last week, in reference to two Israeli strikes in Lebanon in October, which killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists, the Human Rights Watch condemned the attacks as an “unlawful and apparently deliberate attack on a very visible group of journalists”.
“This is not the first time that Israeli forces have apparently deliberately attacked journalists, with deadly and devastating results,” Ramzi Kaiss, an HRW Lebanon researcher said in last week’s HRW report.
Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders concluded that two journalists who were killed last month in Israeli strikes in Lebanon were “explicitly targeted”.
Lufthansa to resume flights to Tel Aviv on 8 January 2024
The German airline carrier Lufthansa has announced that it will resume flights to Tel Aviv starting 8 January 2024.
In a statement released on Friday, Lufthansa said:
In a first phase, Lufthansa Airlines will initially offer four weekly flights from Frankfurt and three weekly flights from Munich. Austrian Airlines is planning eight weekly connections and SWISS five weekly flights.
In a first step, the Lufthansa Group airlines will thus offer a total of 20 weekly connections to and from Tel Aviv. This corresponds to around 30 percent of the regular flight schedule. Aircraft from the Airbus A320 family will be used.
It added that the flight schedule offers “good transfer connections from Israel to North America and back via the hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich”.
The flight schedule will be published on 18 December and flights will be able to be booked from that date.
Lufthansa suspended its flights to and from Tel Aviv on 9 October. Its flights to Beirut, Lebanon, were also suspended and were resumed today by Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings, the carrier announced.
Israel Defense Forces: IDF mistakenly kills three Israeli hostages
The Israel Defense Forces announced on Friday that it “mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat, as a result the force fired at them and they were killed”.
In a statement released on Friday, the IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari wrote:
During the fighting in Shejaiya, an IDF force mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat. As a result the force fired at them and they were killed.
During a scan and inspection of the area of the incident, a suspicion arose regarding the identity of the dead. The bodies were taken for examination in Israeli territory, after which it turned out that they were three Israeli hostages.
במהלך הלחימה בשג׳עייה, כוח צה״ל זיהה בשוגג שלושה חטופים ישראלים כאיום. כתוצאה מכך הכוח ירה לעברם והם נהרגו.
במהלך סריקה ובדיקה של מרחב האירוע עלה חשד לגבי זהות ההרוגים. הגופות נלקחו לבדיקה בשטח ישראל ולאחריה התברר כי מדובר בשלושה חטופים ישראלים >>
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) December 15, 2023
Two of the hostages who were killed have been identified as Yotam Haim and Samer Fouad Al-Talalka, according to the IDF. It added that a “message was also given to the family of the third abductee, at whose request his name will not be given now”.
גופותיהם נבדקו ב״מרכז הצבי״ שבמחנה שורה, שם זוהו החטופים:
יותם חיים ז״ל, אשר נחטף מכפר עזה על ידי ארגון הטרור חמאס ב-7 באוקטובר.
סאמר טאללקה ז״ל, אשר נחטף מניר עם על ידי ארגון הטרור חמאס ב-7 באוקטובר.
הודעה נמסרה גם למשפחת החטוף השלישי, שלבקשתה שמו לא ימסר כעת >>— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) December 15, 2023
The IDF said that it had begun “investigating the incident immediately”.
ההודעות נמסרו למשפחותיהם על ידי נציגי צה״ל ומשטרת ישראל.
צה״ל החל לתחקר את האירוע באופן מיידי. מדובר באזור לחימה שהיו בו התקלויות רבות בימים האחרונים. לקחים מידיים מהאירוע מועברים כעת לכלל הכוחות הלוחמים בשטח >>
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) December 15, 2023
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths has welcomed Israel’s announcement that the Kerem Shalom border crossing will be open for aid delivery but noted that “what the people in Gaza need most is an end to this war”.
In a post on X, Griffiths wrote:
We welcome the announcement today that the border crossing at Kerem Shalom will be open for direct delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
The fast implementation of this agreement will increase the flow of aid.
But what the people in Gaza need most is an end to this war.
We welcome the announcement today that the border crossing at Kerem Shalom will be open for direct delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
The fast implementation of this agreement will increase the flow of aid.
But what the people in Gaza need most is an end to this war.
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) December 15, 2023
A delegation from the International Red Cross, headed by ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric, visited the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters in Al Bireh, West Bank today.
According to the PRCS, the two humanitarian organizations discussed various topics including strengthening cooperation under “increasingly challenging conditions” as well as enhancing humanitarian responses.
An ICRC Delegation, headed by ICRC President Ms. Mirjana Spoljaric, visited PRCS HQ today in Al Bireh and met the PRCS President Dr. Younis Alkhatib and the team. The discussions tackled a range of topics incl. Strengthening cooperation under increasingly challenging conditions,… pic.twitter.com/jOmQ6Hkl1A
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) December 15, 2023
Médecins Sans Frontières has said that its teams are witnessing “a shocking increase in Israeli attacks against civilians in Jenin, the West Bank”.
“Attacks on healthcare have also increased dramatically and become systematically,” the humanitarian organisation said, adding that this year has been the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank.
Our teams are witnessing a shocking increase in Israeli attacks against civilians in Jenin, the West Bank. Attacks on healthcare have also increased dramatically and become systematic… pic.twitter.com/RXHFkvxhsg
— MSF International (@MSF) December 15, 2023
The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a result of Israel’s attacks across the strip is worsening due to dire humanitarian conditions, lack of aid and cold weather, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Friday.
In a video posted onto X, Hasan Abualamren, a displaced Palestinian resident, told PRCS:
Airstrikes were on top of … the heads of my kids when we left the house. My house is made of asbestos and all of it fell on my kids’ heads and they sustained head injuries. I then took my kids and evacuated towards the south and I found that the safest place was the PRCS headquarters.
It is cold and the water floods from under us. We try to find something to elevate our clothes on a surface to prevent the water from reaching them.
Here is additional reporting from Reuters on the World Health Organization welcoming Israel’s announcement of temporarily allowing aid into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing:
WHO called for the aid to be distributed throughout the embattled Palestinian territory.
“That’s, of course, very good news,” said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, of the Israeli announcement.
But he added: “How can we make sure that these trucks can go everywhere in Gaza, and not just in the southern Gaza, but also to the northern Gaza?”
There were still three functioning hospitals in the north of the territory, he added, speaking by video conference from Jerusalem.
“We’re talking about getting supplies to the people all over Gaza,” he said.
UNRWA chief: ‘What continues to shock me is the ever increasing level of dehumanization’ of Gaza
In his address at the Global Refugee Forum, Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said that what continues to shock him is the “ever increasing level of dehumanization” with the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
He said:
“The fact that people can laugh, cheer and mock any type of wrongdoing that we observe in this war, when in fact what is happening in Gaza should outrage anyone, should make us all rethink our values… This is also a make or break moment for all of us and for our shared humanity.”
“The fact that people can laugh, cheer and mock any type of wrongdoing that we observe in this war, when in fact what is happening in Gaza should outrage anyone, should make us all rethink our values”- @UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini pic.twitter.com/dXnn3dRGnF
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) December 15, 2023
In his closing remarks at the second Global Refugee Forum, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said:
“Indeed, Palestine refugees there are enduring unparalleled and unprecedented levels of suffering, and the UN system is doing its utmost to support them, particularly through your sister agency.”
“Indeed, Palestine refugees there are enduring unparalleled and unprecedented levels of suffering, and the UN system is doing its utmost to support them, particularly through your sister agency @UNRWA” – UN chief @antonioguterres at the closing of the second Global Refugee Forum pic.twitter.com/hDt3a7AIqA
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) December 15, 2023
The World Health Organization has called the reopening of the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza “good news”, Reuters reports.