IDF reportedly tells families it accidentally killed three hostages last year

Three hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza in December were killed by Israeli fire, according to Hebrew media reports citing families informed of the findings.

The families of Sgt. Ron Sherman and Cpl. Nik Beizer, both 19, and civilian Elia Toledano, 28, were told by Israel Defense Forces officials that IDF fire was responsible for their deaths, following an investigation, according to the reports.

The trio, all of whom were kidnapped on October 7, were recovered from a Hamas tunnel in Jabaliya on December 14.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

In January, the IDF denied Hamas claims that the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike, saying a pathology report showed their bodies had no signs of trauma or gunfire, indicating that they were not killed directly by an airstrike or other IDF action.

Sherman’s mother, Dr. Maayan Sherman, a veterinarian, claimed that the results of that report suggested he was murdered by poison gas allegedly used by the IDF in the tunnels, accusing the government of knowingly putting the hostages at risk.

“Not by Hamas, think more in the direction of Auschwitz and the showers but without Nazis and without Hamas. Not by accidental fire, not by friendly fire, but premeditated murder: bombs with poison gas,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

In November, the IDF carried out an airstrike near the location where the bodies were found, targeting the commander of Hamas’s Northern Gaza Brigade, Ahmed Ghandour, who was hiding in a tunnel.

The IDF’s investigation at the time found that the military was not aware of hostages being held in the area at the time.