Ido Shamriz, brother of Gaza hostage Alon Shamriz who was shot dead by IDF fire on Friday, posted a tweet on X in which he paid tribute to his brother with a quote from Arik Einstein's poem: "Here there is light at the end and suddenly it is only darkness. Alon, my brother, a brave hero."
הנה האור בקצה ופתאום זה חושך אלון אח שלי הגיבור והאמיץ pic.twitter.com/OMmlTcHaRF
— Ido Shamriz (@Ido_Shamriz) December 16, 2023
Just at the beginning of the week, Ido Shamriz expressed his concern regarding Alon's fate on social media. He stated that the thing he is afraid of is that when Alon comes back he will say, 'what took us so long?'
The post came after the IDF revealed that the three hostages were shirtless, waved a white flag, and one of them even shouted "save" in Hebrew, in the tragic incident.
The other hostages killed were Yotam Haim, 28 and Samer Talalka, 22. Haim and Shamriz were taken from Kfar Aza, and Talalka from Nir Am.
More than 120 hostages remain in the Gaza strip. The hostages had either been abandoned by their captors or escaped, the IDF official revealed.
The government and IDF response
In the initial statement, the IDF said that the hostages were mistakenly perceived as a threat and fired upon.
IDF spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Hecht expressed in an interview with Times Radio that it is difficult for soldiers to identify civilians and members of Hamas because the members of Hamas wear civilian clothes and do not distinguish themselves from civilians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on X: "I bow my head in deep sorrow and mourn the fall of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped, among them Yotam Chaim and Samer Talalka. This is an unbearable tragedy.
"The entire State of Israel will mourn this evening. My heart goes out to the grieving families in their difficult time."
The incident continues to be investigated.