The mother of one of the three Israeli hostages who was fatally shot by Israel Defense Forces said she has forgiven the soldiers who mistakenly killed her son and urged them to continue fighting Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Iris Haim, the mother of Yotam Haim, 28, who was killed Friday, reportedly spoke with Israel's Channel 12 and addressed the brigade that erroneously identified her son and two other hostages as a threat.
"Hello to the Bislach Brigade, battalion 17, this is Iris Haim, I'm Yotam's mother," she said. "I wanted to tell you that I love you very much and I embrace you from afar. I know that everything that happened is completely not your fault, it's nobody's fault – except the Hamas, may their name and memory be wiped off the face of the earth.
"I ask you to stay safe and always keep in your thoughts that what you're doing is the best possible thing in the world to help us, as the Jewish people, and we all need you to be safe and sound. Don't hesitate for a single moment — if you see a terrorist, don't think that you have deliberately killed a hostage, you need to protect yourselves because that's the only way you would be able to protect us.
"We invite you to come visit us at the earliest opportunity, whoever is willing, we want to see you with our own eyes and embrace you and tell you that what you have done — as painful as it is to say, and as sad as it is — was likely the right thing to do at that moment, and none of us are judging you or angry with you. Not me, not my husband Raviv, not my daughter Noya, not Yotam, of blessed memory, and not Tuval, Yotam's brother. We love you very much, and that's that."
According to Israeli government spokesperson Tal Heinrich, Haim, Alon Shamriz, 26, and Samar Fouad Talalka, 24, "tried to do almost everything possible in order not to appear as a threat to our forces." Troops on the ground, however, "mistakenly misidentified them and shot on them" in what Heinrich called "a tragic incident."
Heinrich added that the shootings took place in a neighborhood in Gaza City where there have been many clashes between IDF forces and terrorists, and which is littered with booby traps and ambushes.
According to The Times of Israel, an investigation of the hostages' deaths found that IDF soldiers in the field had not been briefed about banners they had hung outside a building asking for help. A sniper who shot them also did not recognize their white flag.
Breitbart reported that an IDF dog had been sent in to Hamas-controlled territory and recorded audio of the hostages calling for help. The recording was not reviewed until days after they were accidentally killed, according to the investigation.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
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