Israeli soldiers inspect the entrance to a reported tunnel, where the Israeli Army said Palestinian militants killed six hostages, in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on September 13, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militant groups. Photo taken during a controlled tour and subsequently edited under the supervision of the Israeli military.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Israeli military on Sunday (September 15, 2024) said there was a “high probability” an Israeli air strike was responsible for the deaths of three hostages who were killed in Gaza in November.

The bodies of the three hostages, Corporal Nik Beizer, Sergeant Ron Sherman and French-Israeli Elia Toledano, were brought back to Israel in December following their deaths the previous month.

“The findings of the investigation suggest a high probability that the three were killed as a result of a byproduct of an IDF air strike, during the elimination of the Hamas Northern Brigade commander, Ahmed Ghandour, on November 10th, 2023,” the military said in a statement, referring to the three captives.

“This assessment is based on the location of where their bodies were found in relation to the strike’s impact, performance analysis of the strike, intelligence findings, the results of the pathological reports, and the conclusions of the Forensic Medicine Institute.”

“This is a high-probability assessment based on all of the available information, but it is not possible to definitively determine the circumstances of their deaths,” the military said.

The bodies of the three hostages were recovered on December 14.

The military said its investigation revealed that the three captives had been held in a tunnel complex from which Ghandour operated.

“At the time of the strike, the IDF did not have information about the presence of hostages in the targeted compound,” the military said.

“Furthermore, there was information suggesting that they were located elsewhere, and thus the area was not designated as one with suspected presence of hostages.”