According to Iris Haim, Hamas militants are solely to blame for what happened.
Iris Haim, the mother of Hamas hostage Yotam Haim, who was mistakenly shot by IDF soldiers, said she holds no grudge against the military for his death.
The Times of Israel writes about this.
“When they came to tell us the news… the truth is that I didn’t leak to the IDF for a minute, really not, and neither did my husband,” she said in an interview with 12 – channel. – Not for a minute. There was pain, there was sadness, there was great sadness that Joaf was not here, and we were in shock, in complete shock, but we did not merge.”
“Low morale”
Yotam Haim and fellow Israeli hostages Alon Shamriz and Samar Talalqa were shot and killed by IDF soldiers who mistakenly perceived them as a threat on December 15 in the Shejaya neighborhood of Gaza City as they emerged from a building shirtless and carrying a white flag.
The incident is still under investigation by the IDF.
Haim said that many IDF soldiers and officers visited their home during the week-long mourning period, “and they told me, in a whisper, that their morale was very low” after the accidental shooting.
“They felt very bad about this incident, and I immediately thought that I needed to tell them something,” Haim said.
She recorded a voice message expressing her love and support for the soldiers of the 17th Battalion of the Bislamac Brigade who participated in the tragic incident.
Whom does the mother think is guilty?
“I know that everything that happened was absolutely not your fault, and no one’s fault except Hamas,” Iris said in the address. “And don’t hesitate for a second if you see a terrorist.” Don't think that you killed the hostage on purpose. You have to take care of yourself because that's the only way you can take care of us.”
She also invited the soldiers to visit the couple's home to personally express similar feelings to them.
“They came, told us what happened, and cried with us,” the woman said. “They are young guys, wonderful, sweet, and I told them the same thing: “We don’t have any anger.” Yotam, as far as we can see, followed his own decision… He probably knew that he would not be greeted with a bouquet of flowers.”
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Random Kill
Chaim says the soldiers told her they saw three figures, “and they couldn't immediately understand that they were hostages, they had no idea.” But she said that she did not insist on more detailed information, “since we are not interested in dealing with what happened in the past.”
The woman told how she sees the situation: “Yotam has been released. He was released from Hamas captivity. Even if he didn't make it to Israel alive, he was fired and that's why he defeated Hamas. And it was also important for me to tell the soldiers about this.”
“Perhaps I can even say that Yotam chose deep within himself that it would not be Hamas who would kill him,” Iris suggested on one of the TV channels. “It gives us a certain peace of mind.”
Haim said that on December 15, she was in the Channel 12 studio, ready for an interview, had already put on makeup, when she received a call at home and was informed that her son had been killed.
She said that during the 70 days that Yotam was held captive by Hamas, she was sure that he was alive. She added that it took her and her family about 36 hours to realize that what happened was “Yotam's choice.”
Iris said they didn't allow a “what if?” question about Jotham's fate during Shiva's period, “because we said, 'Who cares if it changes?.' “What if” is no longer relevant. If I stay in the “what if”, what will I be left with?,” the woman commented.
Reaction of other family members
Iris's feelings are not shared by the family members of all three hostages. Ido Shamriz, Alon Shamriz's brother, said at his funeral: “You ran away against all odds and did what you had to do to get home. My poor brother, what did you go through in those moments when you already saw the light, and it turned into darkness? Those who left you also killed you after you did everything right.”
His brother, Yonatan Shamriz, repeated the same words in his farewell speech: “You came out of the tunnel into the open air, you have already seen freedom, you have done everything right, in the face of the senseless chain of command [of the IDF], an irresponsible government and a barbaric terrorist group, you you overcame everything and you didn’t need anyone. You did everything right.”
Shamriz's father, Avi, said that IDF soldiers killed him.
Case investigation
A relative of Talalqa told Haaretz that Samer could have returned alive. I'm sure they had no intention of killing him, but they should have been more prudent… It's not that he was killed in the [October 7] massacre; he survived for 70 days and it wasn't easy. I'm sure he hoped to return home too.”
A military investigation into the accidental killing of three escaping hostages has found that one of them was captured on an IDF dog-worn camera several days earlier screaming for help during a firefight between troops and by Hamas terrorists at the site where they were held.
New research findings released last week provide the latest evidence of the lengths to which hostages Shamriz, Haim and Talalqa went to inform the IDF about themselves after they managed to escape from captivity. They eventually approached a group of soldiers, hoping for rescue, but the soldiers opened fire as they approached, killing two of them; the third, apparently Chaim, ran back into the building but was killed when he returned.
129 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza – not all of them alive – after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a week-long truce in late November.< /p>
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