Hostages’ frantic pleas on tape
Search dog’s body cam records shouts 5 days before deaths
JERUSALEM — A military search dog with a body camera captured audio of three Israeli hostages shouting for help in Hebrew, five days before they were mistakenly shot to death by Israeli troops, according to the army’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.
According to new information released Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation, the dog captured the audio on Dec. 10.
In the audio, the hostages can be heard shouting in Hebrew the words “help,” “hostages” and two of their names, “Alon” and “Yotam.”
Soldiers had sent the dog into a building in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, suspecting that terrorists were in inside. The dog was shot to death by the terrorists. The terrorists were killed in a firefight with Israeli forces.
The Israeli military believes this is how the hostages were able to escape.
The dog’s recording was not reviewed until after the hostages were killed days later, as they tried to make themselves known to Israeli forces.
The hostages were shirtless and held a stick with a white cloth as they emerged Friday from a building about a mile from the location that had been searched by the dog. An Israeli sniper killed the first two hostages and the third hostage ran back into the building but was killed by other soldiers chasing him.
Israel’s military chief Herzi Halevi has said the shooting was against the military’s rules of engagement.
Iris Chaim, the mother of one of the killed hostages, released a recorded message for the military unit involved in the death of her son.
“I know that everything that happened is not your fault. It is the fault of Hamas,” she said, adding that she thought soldiers’ actions were “the most right thing to do in that moment.”