Israeli tanks in Gaza, Photo: AA/ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia
The Israeli army announced that it probably killed two residents of a kibbutz during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, a conclusion drawn after an internal investigation, reports AFP.
The investigators, who interviewed soldiers and civilians, tried to determine the cause of death of Tomer Eliaz-Arava and his mother Dikla Arava, two residents of the Nahal Oz kibbutz, one of the communities most affected by the attack.
The investigation established that Tomer Eliaz-Arava (17 years old), was initially kidnapped by Hamas militants and then forced by them to convince other residents to leave their home. After an hour and a half, the teenager managed to escape and hide. The soldiers of a unit that came to the aid of the kibbutz saw “a suspicious figure”, on which they opened fire.
“The investigation concluded that it is very likely that that person was Tomer Eliaz-Arava, killed by mistake,” the army statement said.
Meanwhile, Hamas fighters kidnapped Dikla Arava and put him in a vehicle for Gaza. “During the trip to Gaza, the vehicle was targeted from behind,” which would have caused the woman’s death.
“The investigation suggests a reasonable possibility that Dikla Arava was killed by Israeli army fire while he was in a vehicle identified as belonging to fleeing terrorists. In both cases, it was not possible to determine with absolute certainty what caused the death,” says the military.
Hamas militants also kidnapped Ela and Dafna Elyakim, the daughters of Diklei Arava’s partner, but they were released during a ceasefire in November 2023.
Also in Kibbutz Beeri, another community near the Gaza Strip, witnesses told Israeli media that a tank fired at a house where 14 people held by Hamas were.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,208 Israelismostly civilians, according to an Israeli army statistic. In addition, 251 people were kidnapped.
More than 46,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed during Israel’s military crackdown on Gaza, according to the UN-backed Hamas Health Ministry.
