An Israeli investigative documentary has renewed scrutiny over the military’s conduct in Gaza after soldiers and officers described receiving broad “shoot to kill” orders that allegedly applied to nearly every person encountered in combat zones, including civilians. The testimony emerged during a Channel 13 investigation into the December 2023 killing of three Israeli hostages by Israeli troops in Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood, an incident the Israeli military previously described as a “tragic accident” during intense fighting.
The documentary, broadcast by Channel 13’s HaMakor (“The Source”), centered on the deaths of Israeli hostages Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samer Talalka. The three men had reportedly escaped captivity and were attempting to reach Israeli forces when they were shot by soldiers despite being shirtless, waving a makeshift white flag, and calling for help in Hebrew. Interviews conducted for the program painted a picture of battlefield conditions in which troops were allegedly instructed to regard nearly every individual in Gaza as a potential threat.
“I heard this from every soldier who spoke to me,” Iris Haim, the mother of Yotam Haim, said during the documentary. “They received an unequivocal order: Everything you see — and you will not hesitate, even if they’re civilians — you shoot to kill.”
Haim said she personally spoke with multiple soldiers involved in operations in Shujaiya and heard similar descriptions repeatedly. One soldier whose testimony was aired during the program described the directives in stark terms, saying troops were instructed that “A man, doesn’t matter what age, right away… [shoot] to kill.” The soldier added, “We were even told that if it’s a woman or a child, make your considerations, because things happen.”
The documentary suggested that those battlefield assumptions played a direct role in the deaths of the three hostages. According to testimony from one soldier, Talalka, who was from the Bedouin town of Hura inside Israel, was leading the group as they approached Israeli troops. The soldier said Talalka’s appearance immediately triggered suspicion among soldiers operating in Gaza.
“The moment you recognize an Arab face in Gaza, the first intuition is that these are Hamas terrorists trying to carry out an attack,” the soldier said in a recording broadcast by Channel 13.
According to accounts presented during the investigation, Talalka and Shamriz were killed first after troops opened fire. Yotam Haim was then wounded by another soldier before the weapon jammed. A second soldier later fired the fatal shots that killed him. The documentary included testimony from an Armored Corps officer who claimed that a battalion commander had attempted to halt the shooting after suspecting the men might be hostages, but the order allegedly failed to reach all soldiers involved because some troops were inside a closed room wearing ear protection due to heavy gunfire.
“Everything happened in a matter of seconds,” the officer said.
The investigation also revealed that Israeli troops had encountered indications of hostages in the area days before the killings took place. During an earlier raid on a building in Shujaiya, soldiers reportedly heard voices shouting “Help” and “Hostages” in Hebrew while a firefight unfolded nearby. Troops relayed the information to commanders, but officers allegedly concluded the voices were part of a Hamas ambush designed to lure Israeli soldiers into a trap.
Rather than conducting a rescue operation or further investigation, Israeli forces directed helicopter and tank strikes against the building. According to the documentary, the hostages survived the bombardment by hiding beneath a staircase. After escaping the building, they reportedly left handwritten messages in Hebrew between nearby structures, including signs reading “help, hostages.” Soldiers later discovered the signs but dismissed them as a possible deception tactic.
The Channel 13 report further revealed that a military dog camera captured audio of the hostages crying for help during the earlier operation. The footage was not immediately reviewed. Brig. Gen. Gur Amibar was heard in a recording aired during the documentary explaining why the material was not examined sooner.
“I already know there are terrorists in the house. So there was no need to unpack [the footage] in real time,” Amibar said.
In another recorded exchange aired during the program, Haim questioned how soldiers operating in Gaza were expected to identify hostages if they had not been given updated photographs or clearer operational guidance. “The Israeli government says the most important thing is to bring the hostages back,” Haim said. “There are no photos for the soldiers of the hostages. So how did they know what they were looking for?”
Amibar responded, “Everything you say is correct.”
The documentary has intensified debate inside Israel over military rules of engagement during the Gaza war and whether battlefield directives effectively encouraged indiscriminate lethal force in densely populated civilian areas. One reserve officer in the Golani battalion described the orders issued to troops as broad and uncompromising, saying soldiers were instructed to shoot “even if it’s an old man,” because “an old man knows how to detonate himself with a bomb.”
The officer also claimed soldiers who raised concerns about distinguishing civilians, militants, and hostages were told by commanders that “the situation is such that you cannot differentiate.” The testimony added to longstanding criticism from human rights organizations and legal experts who have argued that Israeli military operations in Gaza have blurred the distinction between combatants and civilians in ways that violate international humanitarian law.
Shujaiya itself has become one of the most heavily devastated areas of Gaza during repeated Israeli military campaigns. The neighborhood experienced major destruction during Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza and again during the war that began in October 2023. By mid-2024, the United Nations reported that more than 80,000 Palestinians had been displaced from the area due to Israeli military attacks. One soldier interviewed during the Channel 13 investigation described the neighborhood as a “destruction zone,” where soldiers operated under the assumption that nearly anyone encountered represented a threat.
The revelations surrounding the hostage killings have also revived discussion of Israel’s controversial “Hannibal Directive,” a military protocol historically associated with preventing the capture of Israeli soldiers even if doing so endangered the captive’s life. Although the directive has reportedly undergone revisions over the years, critics have argued that aspects of its underlying logic continue to shape battlefield conduct during hostage situations.
The deaths of the three hostages became especially significant inside Israel because they appeared to undermine repeated public assurances by Israeli officials that recovering captives remained a central objective of the war. The fact that Israeli soldiers killed escaped hostages who were waving a white flag and calling out in Hebrew intensified criticism from hostage families and further complicated public debate over military strategy in Gaza.
The killings also occurred during a period of extensive Israeli military operations in Shujaiya that included the death of prominent Palestinian writer and professor Refaat Alareer. Alareer was killed in an Israeli strike on December 6, 2023, just days before the hostage shooting. He had become internationally known for documenting conditions inside Gaza during the war and had previously said he faced threats connected to his outspoken commentary and reporting.
Despite the revelations aired by Channel 13, Iris Haim has publicly defended Israeli soldiers involved in the incident and has expressed sympathy for troops struggling with the psychological aftermath of the killings. Shortly after her son’s death, she told Channel 12, “I wasn’t angry at the IDF for even a minute.” After learning that soldiers involved in the shooting were experiencing severe emotional distress, she also recorded a message directed at troops, saying, “I know that everything that happened is absolutely not your fault… Don’t hesitate for a second if you see a terrorist.”
The testimony broadcast by Channel 13 nevertheless raised broader questions about whether the killings reflected isolated battlefield confusion or the consequences of operational directives that encouraged soldiers to treat nearly all movement in Gaza as hostile. The investigation also intensified scrutiny over whether military practices in Gaza conflicted with repeated government claims that hostage recovery remained a top priority throughout the war.
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