Israeli media airs audio of hostages in Gaza before they were killed by army

By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (KAN) aired audio late Sunday of two of three Israeli hostages in Gaza who were accidentally killed by the Israeli army in December last year as they pleaded to be rescued.

In the recording, one of the hostages, Alon Shamriz, can be heard shouting: “Help!...Help! We are by the stairs, under the stairs! Under the stairs! Please help!”

The army obtained the recording from a GoPro camera that was mounted on a dog from its Oketz canine unit that had been sent to the location of the hostages, but Palestinian fighters killed it, KAN reported.

On Dec. 18 last year, the Israeli army announced the “accidental” killing of three hostages being detained by Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip as the hostages were “mistakenly identified” as a “threat” and killed.

They were Yotam Haim, 28, Alon Shamriz, 26, and Samer Talalka, 22.

According to the KAN, the two hostages who were heard in the recording were Haim and Shamriz.

On Friday, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, announced that seven Israeli hostages in their custody had been killed in an attack by the Israeli army, raising the total number of hostages in Gaza killed by Israeli army fire to 70.

Before announcing the killing of the seven Israeli hostages, Tel Aviv estimated that there were 134 Israeli hostages in Gaza, while Israel was holding at least 8,800 Palestinians in its prisons, according to official sources from both sides.​​​​​​​

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7. The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed 30,410 people and injured 71,700 others with mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala