IDF Chief Reminds Troops Not To Shoot Shirtless People Waving Surrender Flags

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Israeli's army is "the most moral army in the world," yet somehow IDF soldiers needed a reminder from their top officer that they're not supposed to kill people who are surrendering to them. 

That refresher lesson was delivered on Sunday by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, as he visited troops in the Gaza Strip. Notably, his counseling wasn't prompted by the death of surrendering Hamas militants, but by the IDF's killing of three Israeli hostages, in an incident that seemed to substantiate critics' claims that Israel's Gaza campaign is characterized by a lack of discipline and a reckless disregard for Palestinian life. 

The killing of the three hostages on Friday has only grown more troubling as more details have emerged.

• Two days before the three were killed, the IDF observed crude signs displayed on a nearby building. They said "SOS" in English and "Help, 3 hostages" in Hebrew. Rather than investigating, the troops just assumed it to be a trap. 
• As the hostages tried to find their way into the safe custody of the IDF, one of them was waving a white surrender flag. 
• All three were not only unarmed but shirtless, which should have negated worries that they were wearing explosive vests
• When they emerged, a soldier immediately fired on them, killing two and wounding one. The survivor took shelter in a nearby building and called out "help" in Hebrew. A ceasefire was ordered, but when the hostage exited the building, a soldier shot him to death. 

Halevi's remarks to the soldiers of the IDF's 99th Division in Gaza drew on some of those details:

"You see two people, they have their hands up and no shirts — take two seconds."

“And I want to tell you something no less important. What if it is two Gazans with a white flag who come out to surrender? Do we shoot at them? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Even those who fought and now put down their weapons and raise their hands — we capture them, we don’t shoot them."

Where holding fire on surrendering militants is concerned, Halevi first appealed to military practicality and then to morality.

"We extract a lot of intelligence from the prisoners we have; we have over 1,000 already,” he said, before adding, "We don’t shoot them, because the IDF doesn’t shoot a person who raises his hands. This is a strength, not a weakness.”

Israel estimates that 112 living hostages remain in Gaza, with another 20 believed to be dead. "Hopefully, we will have another opportunity where captives will come to us or we will reach a house, and do the right thing," said Halevi. 

The killing of the three hostages is the most severe of several recent blows to the IDF's reputation. Israeli officials have also been embarrassed by soldiers sharing videos portraying unprofessional conduct -- to include genocidal chants, the burning of food, the ransacking of a toy store and singing a Jewish religious song over a mosque loudspeaker. 

Dror Sadot, a spokeswoman for Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, affixes the blame to Netanyahu's government, which is more dominated by ultra-religious and extremist parties than any of its predecessors: “The dehumanization from the top is very much sinking down to the soldiers.”