What Exactly Happend? An Official Statement from the Israel Defence Forces.

hello everybody I'm here with a very special guest today I'm here with major Duron Spielman from the Israel Defense Forces and I'm going to ask him some questions regarding the three hostages that were unfortunately and accidentally killed by the Ida forces major doron Spielman how are you today thank you for joining the show thank you for having me barl it's a pleasure and honor to be here and uh we're doing you know we're doing okay but we've had better days I'm just going to go straight to it because this is on everybody's mind is you know is it true are the are the reports confirmed do we have any other details what happened there's so much false news out there and it seems like our enemies are using this against us so could you please tell us some details about what happened over the weekend absolutely over the weekend uh the IDF was operating in the area of Shia also Kan yunes also in jabalia and we entered a building we have to understand this is it's like operating in a in a concrete jungle it's an urban jungle our Fighters are taking RPG rocket fire we're getting hit by AK-47s they're seeing Terrace inside the building they're moving closer to a building while they're getting closer to a building underneath the ground the same terrorists are going to the building behind them shooting behind them again you're you're talking they're they're spider webbing through the through the web of Gaza that they've built for so long and by the time you know where they are boom they pop up behind you and for 70 days s day in and day out barel this is what our our soldiers have been going through and uh unfortunately on uh Shabbat uh just over the weekend our Fighters came forward they thought they were being uh hit by terrorists and they approached they saw civilians outside the a building they mistakenly thought that they were terrorists and yes they in fact did kill them it has been confirmed uh it's especially upsetting because uh they tried identifying themselves as hostages they were holding up White Flag they had taken off their shirts so they wouldn't think that we wouldn't think that they had explosives on them and they were trying to speak Hebrew one of them ran back into the house speaking Hebrew and caught up in the scenario of 70 days of the deceit of Hamas and deception this horrible tragedy took place which is uh which is a tragedy and I don't want to minimize it at all but this is stuff that happens this is this is an ugly war and I think that our enemies right now are using this against us I saw um I saw Elon Omar this morning or was it uh AOC and she put that Israel goes against all the conventions of killing people that have you know white flags it's a typical convention what would you answer to her or to other people that are saying that Israel is immoral in their fight look how they you know even killed their own people what do you answer to such a thing I think it's it's so uh absurd because the truth is is that there's probably never been another Army on Earth that has tried harder to protect the civilian population of their enemy than we are trying to protect the Gaz and people who are the civilian people they are in fact hostages to a large degree of Hamas are mortal enemy and therefore you take somebody who cannot believe that we're actually doing this you either to say it's all a bluff or in fact Israel and going into Gaza trying to rescue our hostages trying to wipe out the monster that killed 12200 people or actually acting in a moral way or do you just want to say it's not true and and it's the opposite I mean what other Army barel has broadcast for five weeks to a civilian population and to every Hamas terrorist in Northern Gaza head south to get out of our way I mean it it's it's crazy it's something that hasn't happened and which brings me to my next question these hostages that were coming out these three hostages that were accidentally hit by Friendly Fire these haed it was part of a rescue mission why were they being why were they out out in the open why were they now released they had escaped what are the what are the mechanics what are the details that we know right now so look there's a few assumptions that are that we're working on right now either that they were left behind because of the friction of our troops with Kamas and Kamas was on the move or they managed to escape what I can tell you is as we move closer and closer to Kamas in all of these areas they are getting more and more rattled I mean their chain of communication is completely broken they no longer have communication with their Battalion commanders the Battalion commanders don't have communication with the division commanders and I can tell you from the Kamas teras that we are interrogating they say time and time again that their own leadership yak sinir and all the heads of Kamas are disconnected from reality Y and what's happening is within this breakdown of communication they're not they're starting to get very scared and very rattled and we saw the pictures of them holding the guns coming up sure happened again and again and again it just happened to another 80 Kamas terrorists who gave themselves up uh from a hospital of course where they were uh using with IEDs and uh you know with kalashnikovs and the MRI machines and this is the kind of situation what we can see is as opposed to what those who are trying to call in Israel the halty initiative are saying the truth is the ground invasion is working the fact that these three men were out there and again it's so horrifically tragic and and my heart goes out to their families as does a huge apology the fact that they were there is only because we're here on the ground not because of the good graces of Kamas do we know it's it's it's it's a it's an ugly question but I'm gonna ask it anyways and I I don't want to know the answer of the person but do we know who shot these people is that do we does the IDF know who that is yeah the look the IDF has done completely microscopic analysis of what happened here and you know this is the kind of event that is not only shocking and and horrific it's also it's also wrong and let's just put it out there I mean we hug our soldiers because they are under so much stress but this is the opposite of our Rules of Engagement even if this was a gauen person and under these extreme circumstances where Hamas dresses as civilians The Rules of Engagement are even a normal Civ in Gods if they're holding a white flag and they're shirtless you're not allowed to shoot them and you know it goes against the audience rules and engagement and the person who did this and the people who did this look they'll have to carry it with them and that's probably and by the way I think that it's important that everybody holds Grace for you know this Battalion these people who are involved because God forbid any of us should ever be in Gaza and we should be holding rifles and we should be in that level of intent and stress we have no idea what was going on in that moment and I think that the entire Jewish world has to hold space and have and hold Grace for these for these people because at the end of the day they have to carry a very heavy burden on them for the rest of their lives and that goes as well for the inter International Community and everybody else is that how dare they we were forced in into this position we were forced to a place where we hand hostages had they not taken our hostages we would have never had to have been in the situation in the first place and I think that that's extremely important and if I could Empower you if I may when you go on to the BBC in just a few moments how dare they accuse us of anything but trying to defend our own people we would we don't want to be in this position and um it's it's it's horrific that we have to be here no question and you know people love to to lose sight of how this all began and the nature of Hamas and the fact that this is a war we didn't want and nobody you know woke up before you before Sor and said you know let's go to Gaza let's go you know go to war in Gaza we were thinking of Dancing with the Torah and being happy and um this really is a situation where Hamas has scripted this entire scenario in their evil handbook right in advance this was all pre-planned everything down to the humanitarian situation in Gaza I mean it's not by chance barl that the first place that they hit on October 7th was the ays humanitarian crossing right it's the same place that all the goods and all the people go back and forth because amidst this whole plan of slaughtering Israelis and hiding and taking hostages and putting our hostages in way of fire another part of the plan was let's make the lives of these people hell so that the International Community will blame Israel and you know the International Community unfortunately playing right into their hands yeah it's it's part of their it's part of their plan themselves here's a question for you the rest of the hostages any more data um there's talking about I hear I hear talks now about potentially a ceasefire coming up in the next week to do another hostage swap is that in the cards do we have any information regarding that what I can tell you is this look the IDF is a flexible military if if we get a call from the political Echelon that you know there's a hostage deal going forward we know how to scale back our operations we did it before and going go into a defensive posture as a soldier and as somebody who was in Gaza just last week I can tell you that that our mindset is to destroy Kamas the orders that we are operating under is that yes we want to bring home our hostages but we want to make sure that there are not going to be another round of hostages in the future therefore we have to destroy Kamas and so all of our operations are going towards us it's balancing these two things which seem to be impossible at the same time that's our Challenge and ultimately with the the help of you know KES Baro they will in fact come together because as we press them on the ground and as they're desperate and and as we get help from above as well hopefully there'll be more and more opportunity to release our people and that's really that's really the only way I appreciate you bringing God into this picture I think it's extremely important as a military leader as a as the Jewish state is that the only way that we're going to win against the forces of evil is that is if the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is on our side and we can't lose focus of that and and I really appreciate that you in uniform repr representing the IDF is not ashamed to bring God into the picture um for those of you who don't speak Hebrew when he said that means the Holy One Blessed Be he and uh I I I think that that's that's how we're going to win this war ultimately how much time do you have left major so yes I do have to go around five minutes you know I if I could just add one thing to what you just said about God being in the picture I just have to tell you that you know when I went into Gaza last week and it was it was on a Friday so it was Friday Friday ago so it was I think the second night of Hanukkah and you know I it's it's the war so you know Shabbat the Sabbath is like the seventh day it's all very confusing but just before we were going to Gaza I remembered wait we have to like candles and I grab the manura and we get into the the Hummer and as we're driving in the soldiers you know all different tyes of soldiers men and women fary ashkanazi yamak they all saw this and it became Mission because it was getting dark outside the solders said we have to light the candles before dark we're going to make it into Gaza and we drove into Gaza and we were inside um jabalia which is extremely dangerous and we found a place on top of some rubble and everyone came together and we lit those little candles and it was maybe the most powerful lighting and that that is because the Jewish people even if we don't always talk about God we know that that's why we're here that's why beautiful absolutely beautiful you know I've been asking myself and maybe you can answer this question I've been paintballing before I don't know if you've ever been paintballing before and it's it's it's it's scary all right it's scary you're you're there in the thick of it you have your gun you're shooting you don't want to get shot it hurts when you get hit and that's with your friends and that's with paintballs it must be absolutely terrifying to be in in in the middle of Gaza with real bullets and it's not your friends on the other team it's Hamas how are they how do they physically fight to make sure that they are not getting killed meaning our soldiers how does that practically how does that practically happen we all saw that video of the soldier who they threw a grenade at him and it blew up and then he continued to go and he eliminated the terrorist but how does it happen practically speaking that our forces are not this is their they're on their home turf like you said they're going through their web they're going through their tunnels they're going they know that the lay of the land and we don't we're coming into their fresh how do we how practically speaking are our troops not getting you know killed on in this onetoone Combat First of all you're correct that when we look at the combat our troops are at the very very top of their game I mean the the ratio of the number of terrorists that we were able to kill in proportion to God forbid our Fighters that they able to kill is is a completely different scenario and it comes on the two things in the same way that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant I'm sorry to make the comparison practiced harder than anybody else practiced harder than anybody else the IDF practices and trains harder than anybody else and when you're under Fire that's what you have to fall back on that's the first component it's high level practicing training it's being very open about your mistakes there's a tradition in the Israeli Army that doesn't exist possibly in any other army in the world which is even a soldier can tell his commander in certain circumstances where the commander went wrong the commander will ask tell me where I went wrong it's a very Jewish trait to do this it's like a yum kipor after every every single type of practice so that's on one hand on the other hand is the other reason why we are so effective is because Israeli soldiers are taught to think independently and what sorry to think independently and so when the structure breaks down or if two soul soldiers find themselves off to a side they immediately know how to go into like a command and Soldier mode and move forward and it's that individual thinking and responsibility that goes into action in the most difficult circumstances and again we've made mistakes and we're speaking at a time when we've made tragic mistakes but in the same Spirit of what I'm saying barl we're going to learn from them and we're going to come out of this on a higher level and the horrific death of those three soldiers and I I would not want to be their parents my heart goes out to them is going to make the IDF a better Army and hopefully bring home addition people major Doran Spielman thank you so much for joining the show today I really appreciate it I hope that next time we meet it is celebrating over good news and keep on doing the good work that you're doing we're all behind you God bless you and uh may we see may we see Good Times going forward and the rebuilding of the Third Temple with mashiach now thank you thank you so much be well yeah