Mother of hostage mistakenly killed by IDF sends message to soldiers – ‘I love you very much,’ it's ‘not your fault’

Iris Haim, mother of Yotam Haim, one of the Israeli hostages mistakenly killed by IDF soldiers during an operation in Gaza, sent a message of love, support, and forgiveness to the brigade involved in the shooting incident. 

The message, sent last Wednesday, offers love and support for the soldiers instead of blame. 

“I am Yotam’s mother. I wanted to tell you that I love you very much, and I hug you here from afar,” Iris said in the message. “I know that everything that happened is absolutely not your fault, and nobody’s fault except that of Hamas, may their name be wiped out and their memory erased from the earth.” 

“I want you to look after yourselves and to think all the time that you are doing the best thing in the world,” she told the soldiers. “Because all the people of Israel and all of us need you healthy.” 

Iris Haim told the soldiers she forgives them and does not blame them for what happened. 

“At the first opportunity, you are invited to come to us, whoever wants to. And we want to see you with our own eyes and hug you and tell you that what you did – however hard it is to say this, and sad – it was apparently the right thing in that moment,” Haim said. “None of us are judging you, nor are we angry.” 

Haim also told the soldiers to do what they needed to do to win the fight against Hamas. 

“And don’t hesitate for a second if you see a terrorist,” she told them. “Don’t think that you killed a hostage deliberately. You have to look after yourselves because only that way can you look after us.” 

Yotam Haim, along with Alon Shamriz and Samer Fouad Talalka, were shot by IDF soldiers after they escaped from a building where they had been held captive. 

The accidental shooting of the three hostages was a great shock to many in Israel and has led many to question the IDF’s operational procedures in Gaza. 

An IDF investigation found several violations of rules of engagement and a lack of communication between units being refreshed with the new units coming in. 

IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi said mistakes were made during the fighting in the high-pressure environment of urban warfare. He said the IDF was applying the lessons learned from the mistake and reinforcing the IDF’s rules of engagement to prevent a similar event from recurring. 

The last communication the family had with Yotam was on Oct. 7, the day he was abducted by terrorists, when he wrote them to say the house was burning and that he loved them.