The American New York Times (NYT) newspaper reported that the Israeli army carried out attacks in some areas from the beginning of the offensive against the Gaza Strip despite knowing that Israeli prisoners would die.
NYT’s analysis, based on Israeli army investigations, testimonies of soldiers and senior officials, and interviews with prisoners’ relatives, reported that since October 7, 2023, most Israeli prisoners in Gaza have been killed by the Israeli army, and gave some examples.
In the analysis, which quoted the opinions of some prisoners’ relatives that Israeli officials considered fighting Hamas more important than rescuing prisoners, it was pointed out that intensive aerial bombardment was carried out in the Gaza Strip, especially in the first weeks of the Israeli offensive, despite the lack of any intelligence on the whereabouts of the prisoners.
It was stated that in cases where the Israeli army does not have intelligence on whether there are prisoners at the point to be attacked, it acts on the assumption that the prisoners are not there.
In November 2023, it was announced that 3 Israeli prisoners, including 1 civilian and 2 soldiers, were killed in an Israeli airstrike allegedly targeting senior Hamas officials.
Two Israeli army officials were quoted as saying that despite concluding that the prisoners were killed in airstrikes, they did not inform their relatives and refrained from commenting on the incident.
It was then stated that forensic medical reports were presented to the families of the Israeli prisoners, and it was reminded that the families started a campaign to claim that the deaths of the prisoners were caused by the army’s missiles.
“Sinwar is more important than the lives of prisoners”
The NYT analysis noted that in August 2024, the Israeli army launched an offensive in the southern Gaza Strip in search of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, with the knowledge that at least one Israeli prisoner was in the area.
Initially, the attack was suspended for fear of harming the prisoners, but the attack was organized on August 28 due to the priority of killing Sinwar, and as a result of the attack, the bodies of 6 Israeli prisoners were found on August 31.
It was pointed out that in December 2023, a male prisoner, Sahar Baruch, was killed in an operation launched by the Israeli army on the assumption that it had located a female hostage.
It was also emphasized that Hamas announced that Shiri Bibas and her 2 children, whose bodies were delivered in the prisoner swap, were killed in an Israeli airstrike, while Israel claimed that there was no evidence that they were killed by airstrikes, but did not share clear information about the causes of death.
Source: TRT Haber
