The IDF on Friday announced the results of a comprehensive probe, concluding that an attack by the air force on Hamas in central Gaza likely accidentally also killed Israeli hostage Yossi Sharabi.
Sharabi was being held by Hamas in a structure adjacent to the structure that the air force attacked, but IDF intelligence did not know that at the time.
The IDF attack on the adjacent structure led to the collapse of the structure in which Sharabi was being held.
Though the IDF had some information about hostages in the general area, the information did not indicate a danger to hostages in the immediate vicinity.
Possible Sharabi was killed by Hamas
It is still possible that Sharabi was shot and killed by Hamas, and without access to Sharabi’s body in a way that would allow separately analyzing the potential causes of death, the IDF cannot yet determine to a 100% certainty how he died.
However, given the facts compiled by the probe, the IDF believed it was required to provide this analysis to Sharabi’s family and the general public.
On January 15, Hamas announced that hostages Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, had been killed in captivity. Noa Argamani, 26, is reportedly still alive. Advertisement
The update from the Gaza-based Islamist terror organization came in a video featuring Argamani, where the 26-year-old reported the death of her fellow hostages.
The video followed Hamas’s sequence of teased announcements, where they claimed that they would announce the fate of the three Israelis.
“I was located in a building,” Argamani said in the Hamas video. “It was bombed by an IDF airstrike, an F16 fighter jet. Three rockets were fired. Two of the rockets exploded, and the other didn’t. We were in the building with Al Qassam soldiers and three hostages: Myself, Noa Argamani, Itai Svirsky, and Yossef Sharabi.
“After the building we were in was hit, we were all buried under rubble. Al Qassam soldiers saved my life, and Itai’s, unfortunately, we were not able to save Yossi’s.
“After many days…two nights, Itai and I were relocated to another place. While we were being transported, Itai was hit by an IDF airstrike. He did not survive.”
The IDF’s position is that Svirsky was shot and murdered by Hamas.
Hamas has a track record of engaging in psychological warfare.
“Itai Svirsky and Yossi Sharabi,” Argamani added in the video. “They died because of our own IDF airstrikes. Stop this madness and bring us home to our families. While we are still alive, bring us home.”
Svirsky was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 during Hamas’s rampage through the southern Israeli community. The 38-year-old had been staying with his mother, Orit, 70, at the time.
He and his mother had been hiding under blankets in the safe room when the terrorists stormed in and sprayed the room with bullets, killing Orit.
Itai’s father, Rafi, 71, was also murdered, along with his three golden retrievers.
Sharabi and his son, Oren, 13, had also been kidnapped from the Kibbutz. Oren was returned during a round of hostage/prisoner exchanges.
Sam Halpern and Noa Feigenbaum contributed to this report.
