Efrat Katz was reportedly in a automobile together with her abductors when an Israeli plane fired at it.
An Israeli investigation has discovered {that a} lady who was seized through the October 7 Hamas assault was “almost certainly” killed when an Israeli fight helicopter fired on her kidnappers’ automobile.
Efrat Katz, an Israeli, and many of the fighters within the automobile have been killed when the plane fired on them, the military investigation stated on Friday.
The helicopter “fired at a automobile that had terrorists in it, and which, looking back, primarily based on the testimonies, additionally had hostages in it,” the military stated in a press release.
“On account of the fireplace, many of the terrorists manning the automobile have been killed, and almost certainly, Efrat Katz … was killed as effectively.”
The “tragic and unlucky” occasion occurred at a time of “preventing and circumstances of uncertainty”, Israeli Air Pressure chief Tomer Bar stated within the assertion.
“The commander of the air power didn’t discover fault within the operation by the helicopter crew, who operated in compliance with the orders in a fancy actuality of battle.”
The military assertion stated the error occurred as a result of surveillance methods couldn’t distinguish hostages from kidnappers as soon as in a automobile, and that “the taking pictures was outlined as taking pictures at a automobile with terrorists”.
Destiny of captives
Katz, 68 on the time of Hamas’s assault on southern Israel, was kidnapped from the Nir Oz settlement near the Gaza fence.
Her daughter Doron Katz-Asher and her two kids have been taken hostage through the assault, however have been later launched on November 24.
Katz’s associate Gadi Moses and his ex-wife Margalit Moses have been additionally taken hostage through the assault. She was later launched however Gadi is believed to stay in captivity in Gaza and nonetheless alive.
Israel has stated some 1,200 individuals have been killed through the October 7 assault and greater than 200 taken captive – dozens of whom have since been launched. It’s estimated some 130 nonetheless stay in Gaza.
Israel responded to the Hamas assault with a relentless offensive in Gaza that has killed not less than 33,091 individuals, principally ladies and kids, in keeping with the well being ministry within the strip.
In December, three Israeli captives in Gaza have been killed mistakenly by Israeli forces.
They have been shirtless and one in all them was holding up a white flag, the army stated.
The army wing of Hamas stated final month that seven extra captives died on account of Israel’s bombardment, including that the whole variety of captives killed by Israeli army operations “might have exceeded” 70.
This week, media studies shone a light-weight on the AI-assisted system Israel makes use of to determine targets for its bombing marketing campaign in Gaza. The publications stated the system, which reportedly has an error fee of about 10 p.c, has led to lots of the hundreds of civilian deaths within the battle.