From the Liveblog of
Saturday, December 16, 2023
Netanyahu vows to ‘learn the lessons’ after 3 hostages killed by troops in Gaza
At a press conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the tragic killing of three hostages by the IDF on Friday “broke my heart, it broke the hearts of the nation.” But, he stresses, the IDF ground operation will continue, and the war will continue until Hamas is destroyed.
“We are fighting for our existence,” Netanyahu says, “and we have to continue until victory” — despite international pressure and the losses Israel is suffering.
He says he mourns the “tragic deaths of our three hostages” — Yotam Haim, Samar Talalka, Alon Shamriz — mistakenly shot dead Friday morning by IDF soldiers.
“They touched salvation, and then the disaster happened,” he says.
He says he has been asking himself, and doubtless all Israelis have been asking, “What if… ” and “If only something had been different…. We were so close to embracing them.”
“But we can’t turn back the clock,” he says, noting that all warriors know that “the distance between victory and disaster is a hair’s breadth.”
“We will learn the lessons,” he promises, and stresses that Israel will maintain “the military and diplomatic effort” to bring back all the hostages.
