December 15, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Al Jazeera correspondent Hiba Akila paid tribute to her colleague Samer Abu Daqqa, a cameraman for the same network who died of wounds after an airstrike on a southern Gaza city on Friday.

Daqqa had been trapped in a Haifa school, where he was working on assignment, when it came under fire, the network said earlier Friday.

Akila said she'd been working closely with Daqqa on the ground in Gaza since the war began in October.

"Samer was working nonstop," she said. “He was always the beautiful spirit that accompanies us and supplies us with laughter.”   

According to Al Jazeera, Daqqa's wife and four children are in Belgium. Akila said Daqqa remained positive that one day the family would be reunited in Gaza.

"When we were supporting and comforting Samer that soon he will meet his family, he would say, 'I will not go to them, they will come here, and we will be together in Gaza,'" Akila said. 

Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it is alarmed by the drone strike that killed Daqqa and wounded his colleague, Wael Al-Dahdouh, and called on “international authorities to independently investigate the attack and hold those responsible to account.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera, CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg reiterated a call for the protection of journalists and emphasized the importance of their work in Gaza, which she called an "unprecedented" challenge. 

Context: As of Friday, 64 journalists have been killed, and 13 injured, while covering the Israel's war with Hamas, making it the most dangerous period for the profession in 31 years, according to the CPJ.

Seven weeks into Israel’s ground operation in Gaza, one of the key challenges facing the Israeli military is the labyrinth of Hamas tunnels that it says spans the entirety of the strip.

In an effort to destroy the underground network, Israel has begun flooding some of Gaza’s tunnels with seawater, a US official told CNN on Tuesday, adding that Israel's military is “carefully testing out” the method “on a limited basis.”

If successful, flooding could be ramped up to degrade the tunnel network on a larger scale.

The method, however, is difficult and controversial. Even if implemented with sufficient amounts of water at high enough pressure, it may prove only partially successful. It also risks contaminating freshwater supplies and damaging whatever infrastructure remains on the surface.

For the Israeli government, it also risks killing hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be underground.

Israel is unsure whether the method will work, the American official said, but they assured the US that they are being careful to only test it in tunnels where they do not believe hostages are being held.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

A spokesperson for Hamas on Thursday said the group had built its tunnels to withstand possible attempts to pump water into them.

“The tunnels were built by well-trained and educated engineers who considered all possible attacks from the occupation, including pumping water,” Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan said at a news conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

While the tunnels have been a tool for warfare, they have also acted as an economic lifeline for Gaza’s residents, transporting people, goods and sometimes even American fast food amid a 17-year blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt.

Read CNN's full report on the Hamas tunnels in Gaza.

Several dozen people protested outside the Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Friday night, demanding immediate action to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza. 

The protest was called by families of the hostages after news that three Israelis captives in Gaza were accidentally shot and killed by the Israel Defense Forces in northern Gaza. 

A major thoroughfare in the area was briefly blocked by the protesters, who were chanting "Everyone now."

Some background: Leaked audio recordings of a meeting between freed Israeli hostages and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released earlier in December had revealed considerable anger at the government’s conduct, as well as the enduring terror of captivity by Hamas in Gaza.

US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called the deaths of three Israeli hostages “heartbreaking” after the Israel Defense Forces said it accidentally shot and killed them.

The White House does not have “perfect visibility” on how this happened, Kirby said. US President Joe Biden has been briefed by his national security team on the killings, he added.

Kirby added that he believes Israel will examine how this happened but declined to make a “broad judgement about the specific circumstance.” 

The IDF said Friday it mistakenly shot the three hostages after they had been misidentified as a threat.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez contributed reporting to this post.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed efforts to increase the flow of humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza during his meeting Friday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, according to the White House.

The top security official also "stressed the importance of enhancing the protection of civilians" during his meeting, according to a readout provided by the White House.  

Sullivan talked to Abbas about the Biden administration's desire for a peaceful Middle East region and a “path to a two-state solution.”   

Sullivan also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Thursday. Netanyahu previously publicly rejected American plans for post-war Gaza.

In a news conference Friday morning in Tel Aviv, Sullivan said that Israel will move to a new "phase of this war," focused on precisely targeting Hamas leadership. 

The Israel Defense Forces said that the name of the third hostage who was mistakenly killed by IDF troops on Friday in Gaza has been approved for publication by his family.  

The Israeli military said the third person was Alon Shimriz, who was kidnapped from kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas on October 7.

The IDF repeated that it “expresses deep remorse over the incident and sends the families its heartfelt condolences.”

New information about other hostages killed: In a statement Friday, the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum also provided more information about the other two hostages who were killed, Samer Fouad Talalka and Yotam Haim.

The forum said Talalka was 25 years old and the oldest of 10 children.

“Samer was an avid motorcyclist who loved to ride around the countryside and spend time with friends," it said.

Haim, 28, was a gifted musician and a dedicated metal music fan, the forum said. He had played the drums for 20 years and was part of the band Persephore, with whom he was supposed to perform at a music festival in Tel Aviv on October 7.

Yotam left behind two parents, a brother, and a sister.

This post has been updated to reflect the spelling of Shimriz's name in the latest information provided by the IDF.

Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, traveled to the West Bank Friday following visits to Gaza and Israel earlier in the month. 

She met with the Palestine Red Crescent Society's President Dr. Younis Al-Khatib and his team, according to a post on X, formerly Twitter. The goal of the meeting was "to discuss efforts to assist communities suffering from the effects of conflict," according to an ICRC press statement on Friday.  

She also met with a committee for detainee affairs to "listen and share with them the ICRC’s persistent efforts to regain humanitarian access to places of detention." 

Her visit to the West Bank comes a day after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the relatives of missing hostages in Israel on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of his “deep sorrow” at what he called the “unbearable tragedy” of the deaths of three Israeli hostages in Gaza who were accidentally shot by Israeli soldiers. 

“Along with all the people of Israel, I bow my head with deep sorrow and mourn the death of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped, among them are Yotam Haim and Samer Fouad Al-Talalka,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

“Even on this difficult evening we shall dress our wounds, learn the lessons and continue carrying this supreme effort to return all our hostages home safely,” Netanyahu said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also said his thoughts were with the families of the hostages.

"This is a painful incident for every Israeli," Gallant said in a statement. "We must remain resilient and continue operating - for the hostages, for our citizens and for our soldiers."

Gallant said he had spoken to the Israel Defense Forces' chief of the general staff "in order to learn lessons immediately."

Israeli soldiers are being told to “exercise additional caution” when encountering people in civilian clothes, military spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Friday, after the Israel Defense Forces said it accidentally killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Conricus' remarks come after IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said “lessons and relevant instructions concerning the identification of hostages in battle zones have been immediately communicated to all IDF forces across the whole Gaza Strip.”

Conricus claimed “almost all of the RPG crews” and others attacking IDF forces in Gaza “have been dressed in civilian clothes.”