Key Points
- The Israeli military is investigating reports that a tank shelled a house with Israeli hostages inside on 7 October.
- Twelve Israeli hostages held by Palestinian Hamas gunmen inside the house were killed in the incident.
- As Israel's post-7 October offensive enters its fourth month, a ceasefire deal could be on the horizon.
Israel has started investigating possible breaches of the law by its forces during the Hamas attack on 7 October, the military said on Tuesday, following reports some Israeli civilians may have been killed by friendly fire in the fighting.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the investigation centred on an incident in Kibbutz Be'eri, one of the worst hit communities, in which a house was shelled by a tank, killing 12 Israeli hostages held by Palestinian Hamas gunmen.
It said the investigation had been delayed due to the demands of the four-month-old war in Gaza but as fighting has slackened, army commanders felt the time had come for an investigation.
IDF spokesperson says investigation will 'turn over every stone'
Asked to confirm the investigation would look at the incident, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) press desk sent a statement confirming the investigation was taking place, without offering further comment or details.
"The IDF is operating the Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism (FFAM) to examine reports and complaints regarding the violation of Israeli and international law during the fighting," the military said in a statement.
The statement said the fact-finding mission was in the initial stages but investigators had begun to collect materials.
Once an investigation is completed, all materials would be handed over to the Military Advocate General's office, which would decide if there were grounds to open a military police investigation.
Asked about the Be'eri incident, the Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the army was still focused on fighting in Gaza but was preparing its investigation.
"We will turn over every stone," he told a regular press briefing. "We have started paving this path for learning and investigating. We will update."
Israel's post-7 October assault on Gaza continues into fourth month
Around 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed in the attack by thousands of Hamas-led gunmen, according to Israeli tallies, the worst loss of life in a single day since Israel's founding in 1948. More than 240 people were taken hostage.
In response to the attack, Israel launched an air and ground invasion of Gaza, which has so far killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble.
On the ground in Gaza, Israeli forces on Tuesday kept up pressure on Khan Younis, the main southern city they have been trying to capture for weeks. At least 14 people were killed by airstrikes, Palestinian residents and medics said.
Rafah, just south of it, was also hit by air strikes and tank shelling. Two people were killed in a strike on a house in Rafah while six policemen died after their car was hit, Gaza health officials said.
Israeli leaders vowed last week to push into Rafah next, alarming international aid agencies who say a million displaced civilians would be in harm's way, pinned against the border fence with Egypt.
Israel's military said on Tuesday that 31 of the remaining hostages in Gaza had been pronounced dead. Israel previously said 136 hostages were still in Gaza after 110 were freed under a seven-day November truce when Israel also released 240 Palestinians it was holding.
Citing an Israeli assessment shared with US and Egyptian officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that as many as 50 hostages could be dead, leaving about 80 hostages alive.
Meanwhile, US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators are engaged in a diplomatic push to bridge differences between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire plan for Gaza after the Palestinian group responded to a proposal for an extended pause in fighting and hostage releases.
