Israel's military: 'High probability' 3 hostages mistakenly killed in airstrike in November

Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Israel's military on Sunday concluded in an investigation there is "high probability" three Israeli hostages were killed during an airstrike in November intended to take out a Hamas northern Gaza brigade chief

The families were informed last week by officials from the Israel Defense Forces that a comprehensive inquiry revealed they died by IDF actions. IDF officials and hostage families started to leak the results of the investigation.

On Dec. 14, three bodies were recovered from a tunnel in Jabaliya. The tunnel included a large elevator, large rooms, and split into side rooms, such as command centers, medical stations, prayer rooms, and rooms for manufacturing weapons.

Col. Nik Beizer and Sgt. Ron Sherman, both 19, and the French-Israeli civilian Elia Toledano, 28, were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7.

"The findings of the investigation suggest that the three, with high probability, were killed by a byproduct of an IDF airstrike," a statement said . "This is a highly probable estimate given all the data, but it is not possible to determine with certainty the circumstances of their death."

Evidence included where bodies were found and their condition; a pathological report and one by the state's forensic institute; and operations research into the battlefield situation and activities.

Initially, the families were initially told the hostages had been killed by Hamas captors. In January, the IDF rejected Hamas' assertions that they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The mothers of the two soldiers wanted a full account of how their sons had died.

The airstrike on Nov. 10 was designed to take out Ahmed Ghandour, who was taking cover in a tunnel.

"At the time of the strike, the IDF did not have information about the presence of hostages in the targeted compound," the military said. "Furthermore, there was information suggesting that they were located elsewhere, and thus the area was not designated as one with suspected presence of hostages."

In December, the IDF revealed finding five hostage bodies, three of whom were the ones later confirmed likely killed by IDF. The other two were Eden Zakaria and Ziv Dado.

In a video released by Hamas, the three hostages Toledano, Beizer and Sherman were seen holding up pieces of paper with their names and personal information.

In a statement posted alongside the video, Hamas claimed that "they tried to keep them alive - but Netanyahu insisted on killing them."

In December , the Israeli military its troops killed three hostages in Gaza after mistakenly identifying them as a threat. The hostages killed were Yotum Haim, Samar Talalka and Alon Shamriz.

There are an estimated 101 remaining hostages.