This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.On 15 December 2023, three Israeli hostages were killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the Battle of Shuja'iyya in the Gaza Strip.

The men had emerged from a building and were approaching a group of IDF soldiers when they were shot dead, in spite of the fact that they were shirtless and visibly unarmed while waving a makeshift white flag and calling out for help in Hebrew.

[1] The incident provoked widespread domestic and international criticism of the IDF and of the Israeli government's attempts to resolve the hostage crisis through war.

[3][4] The IDF acknowledged that the three hostages, who were kidnapped by Hamas during the 7 October attacks, had been killed after they were "mistakenly identified as a threat," prompting renewed protests in Israel against the incumbent Netanyahu-led government.

[12][13] Haaretz reported that the IDF soldiers followed the third hostage into the building and shot him dead because "they believed that it was a Hamas terrorist attempting to lure them into a trap".

[21] According to The Jerusalem Post, a preliminary investigation found IDF instructions to soldiers in Shuja'iyya were to open fire on any man of fighting age who approached them.

[24] Open University of Israel professor Yagil Levy said there was "a real gap between the formal rules of engagement and the practice on the battlefield",[4] and Israeli journalist Nahum Barnea called the incident a war crime.

Sari Bashi, program director at Human Rights Watch, stated that "nobody batted an eye before killing them", and that this case only came under investigation as the deceased turned out to be Israeli.

[25] On 15 December, the IDF stated that during operations in Shuja'iyya, they "mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat" and killed them with friendly fire.

[30] When asked if the soldiers involved in the killing of the three hostages will be pulled from service, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col Richard Hecht stated that they will be "supported in every way possible" as the incident was "terrible and tragic mistake.