The Gaza Strip has an ensuing crisis and war that continue to reveal more shocking news as the months go on. This past Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)has come forth admitting it may have been responsible for the deaths of three of their hostages in November 2023.  

The three Israeli hostages, Sgt. Ron Sherman, Cpl. Nik Beizer and Elia Toledano, were all part of a team which oversaw the movement of goods going into Gaza from a strip of land called the Erez Crossing north of Gaza. On Oct. 7 of last year, Hamas captured that piece of land and with it these men as captives, a month later they would be killed.  

It has only been in recent months that the IDF has come  forward to admit that their bombing of the area in which the captives were held may have resulted in their deaths due to debris. The IDF has also reported that they knew that these hostages were being kept in the area; however, they also claim through the Times of Israel that “The IDF probe found that at the time, it had information on another location where it thought the hostages were being held. Therefore, the tunnel complex was not listed by the military as an area where Israeli abductees could be.”

This comes as a shock to the parents of the children. One of the boy’s mothers stated to the Times of Israel that she “didn’t know there were hostages there… it’s incredible that they didn’t have that intelligence, that they didn’t think that next to Ghandour there would be captives [being used as human shields]. It’s hard for me to understand and believe this.” The goal of the mission was to eliminate a top Hamas leader, Ahmed Ghandour.