Key Points
- Three Israeli hostages were on Friday shot dead by soldiers in Gaza.
- The brother of Alon Shamriz, one of the hostages killed, accused the army of murdering him.
- The Israeli military says they were killed when troops mistook them for a threat.
An Israeli hostage mistakenly killed by soldiers in the Gaza Strip was buried on Sunday, with his brother accusing the army of having "abandoned" and "murdered" him.
Alon Shamriz, 26, was one of the three Israeli hostages shot dead Friday by soldiers during combat in the Gaza City district of Shejaiya, .
Shamriz, Yotam Haim, and Samer El-Talalqa were killed when troops mistook them for a threat and opened fire, the army said.
"Those who abandoned you also murdered you after all that you did right," Ido, Shamriz's brother, said at the funeral attended by dozens of relatives and family members north of Tel Aviv.
"You survived 70 days in hell," Shamriz's mother, Dikla, said in her eulogy. "Another moment and you would have been in my arms."
Alon Shamriz was one of three Israeli hostages killed by the military in Gaza. Source: AAP / Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
The deaths of the three men, all in their 20s, have sparked protests in Tel Aviv, where demonstrators demanded that the authorities offer a new plan for bringing home the remaining 129 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday military spokesman Richard Hecht said the deaths were being investigated and what the soldiers did was a "violation of the rules of engagement".
Israel opens aid crossing into Gaza
A humanitarian aid convoy crossed into Gaza through the Israeli Kerem Shalom border crossing on Sunday, the first since Israel approved the move, an Egyptian Red Crescent official said.
A total of "79 trucks began entering today," the official, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said on condition of anonymity.
Israel on Friday approved the "temporary" delivery of much-needed aid to Gaza via its Kerem Shalom crossing.
The Gaza Strip is facing dire humanitarian conditions after more than two months of war, during which aid has only been allowed to trickle in through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Kerem Shalom, which sits on Gaza's border with Israel, recently began inspecting shipments of aid bound for the territory, but the trucks still had to travel to Rafah afterwards to enter.
Kerem Shalom was used for 60 per cent of goods entering the besieged Palestinian territory before 7 October.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas' 7 October attack in which more than 1,200 people were killed, according to the Israeli government, and over 200 hostages taken.
More than 19,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza. The attack on 7 October was an escalation of a long-running conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The UN estimates 1.9 million people have been displaced, while aid groups fear the territory will soon be overwhelmed by starvation and disease.
