Shot by their own side under a white flag (l-r): Alon Shamriz, Samer Talalka and Yotam Haim

This was terrible publicity for the Israeli war machine to start with:

But it only got worse as the victims were named:

For clarity, the deceased were described by the BBC as follows:

Yotam Haim, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on 7 October, was a musician who loved animals and cooking Italian food.

Alon Shamriz was also at Kfar Aza at the time of the attack. His family gave permission for him to be named after asking earlier that his identity not be revealed.

Samer Talalka, a Bedouin, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Am. An avid motorcycle enthusiast, he loved to travel in the countryside and spend time with friends.

Even worse, they were shot under a white flag:

An Israeli hostage was waving a makeshift white flag and another called for help in Hebrew when they were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Gaza who “mistook them for militants”, a military official has said.

A soldier nearby opened fire, the military said, hitting two hostages while the third, who was wounded, managed to escape to a nearby building where other troops heard him crying for help in Hebrew. He was killed by a second soldier before a commander, concerned by the incident, issued a ceasefire order.

Rights groups have said it is almost certainly a violation of international law.

Following news of the deaths, the families of other hostages in Gaza called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and an agreement to secure the release of the rest of the captives saying “every second counts” for those left behind.

One can sympathise with the concerns of the relatives.

It seems clear now that the Israeli military cannot be trusted to follow their own rules of engagement, let alone international law. The remaining 100 or so hostages taken by Hamas (in its own violation of international law) on October 7 are in more danger of being killed by their fellow Israelis than by the so-called Palestinian terrorists who kidnapped them.

But Israeli politicians are most likely to use this tragedy as an excuse to intensify hostilities.