Israel's government faced on Sunday calls for a ceasefire from some of its closest European allies and from protesters at home after a series of shootings, including of three hostages who waved a white flag.
Military officials said Saturday that the three hostages who were mistakenly shot by Israeli troops had tried to signal that they posed no harm. It was Israel's first such acknowledgement of harming hostages in the war.
The hostages, all in their 20s, were killed Friday in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where troops are engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas. An Israeli military official said the shootings were against the army's rules of engagement and were being investigated at the highest level.
The protesters urge the government to renew hostage negotiations with Hamas.
Also, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called for an “immediate truce” aimed at releasing more hostages, getting larger amounts of aid into Gaza and moving toward “the beginning of a political solution.”
The foreign ministers of the UK and Germany, meanwhile, called for a “sustainable” ceasefire, saying too many civilians had been killed.
“Israel will not win this war if its operations destroy the prospect of peaceful co-existence with Palestinians,” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote in the UK’s Sunday Times.
The war has flattened large parts of northern Gaza, killed thousands of civilians and driven most of the population to the southern part of the besieged territory, where many are in crowded shelters and tent camps. Some 1.9 million Palestinians — nearly 85% of Gaza’s population — have fled their homes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will continue to fight until the end,” with the goal of eliminating Hamas, which triggered the war with its Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel.
Hamas has said no more hostages will be released until the war ends, and that in exchange it will demand the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas released over 100 of more than 240 hostages captured on Oct. 7 in exchange for the release of scores of Palestinian prisoners during a brief cease-fire in November. Nearly all freed on both sides were women and minors. Israel has rescued one hostage.
Gaza, meanwhile, saw telecom services gradually resume after a four-day communications blackout, the longest of several outages during the war. Aid groups say they complicate rescue efforts and make it more difficult to monitor the toll on civilians.
On Sunday, five people were killed and many injured after a reported Israeli airstrike hit near a UN-run school in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis where displaced Palestinians were sheltering.
The offensive has killed more than 18,700 Palestinians, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said Thursday in its last update before the communications blackout.
