Israelis question army’s rules of engagement after hostages are killed

News that three Israeli hostages were accidentally shot dead in Gaza last month by soldiers meant to rescue them sparked outrage among many in Israel, who have since demanded answers about how the army behaves on the battlefield and how it protects citizens.

The three male hostages, captured by Hamas terrorists near the Gaza border on October 7, were killed in Gaza City on December 15. The men, aged 24, 26 and 28, were unarmed when they were shot. They had taken off their shirts to show that their bodies were not strapped with explosives, and they waved a makeshift white flag.

A military investigation is underway, but immediately after the shooting officials said military rules had been violated.

“The shooting of the hostages was done in violation of open fire rules,” said Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi, the Israeli army’s chief of staff. “Shooting at someone who raises a white flag and wants to surrender is absolutely prohibited.”

The killings shocked Israelis, for whom the military is a respected national institution in which service is mandatory for most adult citizens. Israelis are taught as early as primary school about the “purity of weapons” doctrine preached by the Israeli military – the idea that soldiers should never use their weapons or power to harm non-combatants. Every Israeli soldier carries in his or her pocket a printed copy of “Spirit of the IDF,” guidelines outlining the military’s values, said Nir Dinar, an army spokesman.

While the hostages’ deaths have raised questions about the military’s rules among Israelis, human rights groups and the United Nations have said the military’s inability to properly enforce these rules most often applies to the frequent interactions of troops with Palestinians.

The details of the rules of engagement – the conditions under which soldiers can open fire – are secret because publishing them would allow enemy forces to abuse them, Mr Dinar said, adding that they were in line with international law.

Major General Yehuda Fuchs, head of the Army’s Central Command, specified in a letter to soldiers last year that in order to open fire, troops must believe there is a “clear and immediate danger.” Under the rules, he wrote, soldiers are only allowed to discharge their weapons in a “life-threatening situation.”

The UN body that monitors the human rights of Palestinians called on Israel on December 20 to investigate allegations that soldiers “summarily killed” at least 11 unarmed Palestinian men in Gaza City a day earlier. The Israeli military categorically denied the accusation. The military said soldiers encountered armed militants inside the building, clashed with them and killed some. For some members of the Israeli public, the hostage deaths were the latest incident to highlight the disconnect between the military’s rules and the reality of war.

In November, an off-duty soldier killed an Israeli lawyer who had chased two Palestinian gunmen who had fired into a crowd of people waiting for a bus in Jerusalem. The soldier said he mistook the lawyer, Yuval Castleman, 37, for one of the attackers. But in a video of the incident, Mr. Castleman is seen falling to his knees, throwing down his gun, raising his hands in the air, saying he was an Israeli and pleading with the soldier: “Don’t shoot.”

Three people at the bus stop were killed in the attack before Mr Castleman intervened, and five were injured. The soldier was briefly placed under house arrest after a public outcry, after which his passport and right to bear a weapon were taken away.

And on Wednesday, the Israeli military said Sahar Baruch, 25, who was taken hostage on October 7, was killed last month during a rescue attempt. The military said it was not yet possible to determine whether he was killed by Hamas or by fire from its own forces.

Well before the war in Gaza, human rights groups had for years accused the military of failing to enforce rules of engagement in the occupied West Bank and punish those who violate them.

According to a 2022 report by the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Dinbased on data provided by the military for the years 2017 to 2021, about 20 percent of the 1,260 complaints from Palestinians about alleged crimes committed by Israeli soldiers against them or their property were investigated, and less than 1 percent resulted in a criminal charge.