Oh my God! Three Israelis killed! This is horrible!
Washington, December 17 (RHC)-- With Tel Aviv's admission that occupation forces had killed several hostages during a raid in Gaza, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called the deaths of the three Israelis “heartbreaking” after the Israel Defense Forces said it accidentally shot and killed them.
Observers were quick to point out that while 19,000 Palestinians have been purposely killed by Israel, the Biden administration expressed concern for only three accidental deaths of Israelis.
The U.S. official said: “It's heartbreaking. It's tragic. This news coming out of Gaza today about these hostages being killed in the conduct of a raid. I want to be careful here not to speak to too many specifics because we don't have perfect visibility on exactly how this operation unfolded and how this tragic mistake was made,” Kirby told reporters Friday.
Kirby added that he believes Israel will examine how this happened but declined to make a “broad judgement about the specific circumstance.” The Israeli army said Friday it mistakenly shot the three hostages after they had been misidentified as a threat.
In Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of his “deep sorrow” at what he called the “unbearable tragedy” of the deaths of three Israeli hostages in Gaza who were accidentally shot by Israeli soldiers.
“Along with all the people of Israel, I bow my head with deep sorrow and mourn the death of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped, among them are Yotam Haim and Samer Fouad Al-Talalka,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.