2023-12-22 22:52:39
Friday, December 22, 2023, 9:52 p.m.
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Iris Haim cried bitterly on December 15 when the Defense Forces informed her that her son Yotam, 28, kidnapped since October 7 by Hamas, had been shot dead by the Israeli army itself. Theirs was the shock of an entire country, overwhelmed by the tremendous tragedy of three young people violently kidnapped, subjected to jihadist captivity for ten weeks and murdered by their own when they finally achieved freedom.
The weight of the drama has only begun to ease since last Thursday when Iris decided to meet with a member of the battalion that killed her son. The Defense Forces have not detailed whether she is one of the two soldiers who mistakenly opened fire on the hostages, or a colleague who wanted to embody the collective responsibility of the entire brigade. He represents, in any case, a battalion that has confessed itself gripped by remorse and a deep feeling of guilt, which, only after the interview says that “we can return to activity.”
The emotional meeting was captured in a series of photographs where the soldier’s face does not appear. Iris appears serene. She had previously spread a message where she exonerated the perpetrator of the shooting of her son. «No one will judge you or get angry. Not me, not my husband or my daughter or Yotam’s brother. “What you did, as hard as it is to say and sad, apparently was the right thing at that moment,” he adds with unusual fortitude.
The military investigation has revealed a tragic accumulation of fear, mistrust, mistakes and bad luck that ended the lives of Yotam and two other young people, the student Alon Shamriz and the farmer Samar Talalka, kidnapped by the militants on October 7. According to the preliminary report, an Israeli reconnaissance unit encountered an Islamist commando in the Gaza Strip neighborhood of Shejaiya. The two sides fired at each other for hours from two ruined buildings. Unknown to the patrol, the terrorists were keeping the three young hostages trapped in theirs. When the army finally managed to defeat the jihadists, the kidnapped people tried to escape and fell into ‘friendly fire’.
It’s too early to cry ????
Yotam Haim Z’L was one of the 3 hostages mistakenly killed by IDF soldiers.
His mother, Iris, sent a voice message today to the soldiers who shot her son:“I want to tell you that I love you very much.
I know that what happened was not… pic.twitter.com/jcdJlcpMvl— Doron (@plexaleOK) December 21, 2023
Yotam, Shamriz and Talalka feared being mistaken for Palestinian fighters. That’s why they took all possible precautions. They left the building without shirts, so that the military could see that they were not carrying hidden bombs, and a white flag. But they had already warned of their presence before. The Defense Forces usually send trained dogs equipped with cameras to check tunnels, locate enemies or detect explosive traps. During the confrontation they sent a dog to the house from which the terrorists were shooting. On the device he was wearing in his harness, Shamriz’s voice was recorded asking for help in Hebrew and a captive shouting his name. But the dog never returned. The jihadists shot him dead. The soldiers could not hear the audio.
Israeli explorers also discovered a sheet hanging on another building as a banner with the phrase ‘SOS.’ Three hostages’ written in Hebrew with food remains. But they assumed it was an ambush, like others in recent days. When the hostages appeared among the ruins walking towards them, fear took over the troops and they were mowed down.
Iris Haim and her son Yotam, who was 28 years old.
Iris Haim’s gesture is demonstrative of the mixed feelings felt by a large part of Israeli society: she blames the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu for the management of the war and the obstacles in the release of the hostages, but shows scrupulous respect for the soldiers fighting Hamas. “I can’t blame the military,” said guitarist Lidor Kalai during the funeral of Yotam, his partner in a heavy band.
In her video, Yotam’s mother also addresses her son’s murderer to calm down. “I hug you. “I know that everything that happened is not at all your fault, and no one’s fault except Hamas.” Iris also addresses the rest of the battalion: «I want them to take care of themselves and think that they are doing the best in the world. All the people of Israel and all of us need you healthy. “You have to take care of yourselves because only then can you take care of us.” And she concludes by urging the soldier: “Do not hesitate for a second if you see a terrorist.”
Samer Talalka, Yotam Haim and Alon Shamriz, the three hostages killed by friendly fire.
Gallant, without rest
Iris Haim is not the only relative of the despondent young people who has expressed her emotions publicly. Yonatan, Alon Shamriz’s brother, who called him on the day of the massacre to tell him that it was impossible for him to flee his student residence because “the terrorists are already inside,” was interviewed on Thursday on an Israeli channel.
He denounced that his family “is broken” and demanded the resignation of Netanyahu’s government. Yonatan recalled the words he addressed to the Minister of Defense, ultra Yoav Gallant, after receiving the news of Alon’s death: “I told him that I would hunt him down and everyone who was sitting there (referring to the government cabinet). . That they are responsible for what happened. I told Gallant that I would not rest, that when he fell asleep he would see a photo of my brother. He was sure that the Shin Bet would arrest me within half an hour.
The UN demands the “immediate and safe” delivery of aid to Gaza
The United Nations Security Council yesterday approved a resolution to facilitate the “immediate and safe delivery” of humanitarian aid to Gaza and promote the release of the hostages. The text had 13 votes in favor and abstentions from the United States and Russia after three days of negotiations in which the partners failed to agree to sign a declaration in favor of a truce.
The resolution leaves out the request for an “urgent and sustainable” ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave. It also avoids Washington’s reluctance about how to control the influx of aid. Finally, it calls for “urgent humanitarian pauses and corridors for a sufficient number of days to allow full, rapid, safe and unhindered access” to Gaza.
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