The White House says it is mourning with the families of three Israeli hostages who were accidentally killed during a raid by Israeli forces against Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli forces said they killed the hostages, who were taken by the militants in their Oct. 7 raids, after mistakenly identifying them as a threat.
“It’s heartbreaking. It’s tragic, this news coming out of Gaza today about these hostages being killed,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on a media call. “Obviously, this is not an outcome that anybody wanted to see.”
He said President Biden was briefed about the incident by his national security team Friday but had not spoken directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about it.
Mr. Netanyahu called it an “unbearable tragedy.”
Mr. Kirby said he had to be careful about commenting because the U.S. side did not have “perfect visibility” of the particulars of the raid.
He said the Israelis will likely look at the forensics of the operation to get to the bottom of how it happened.
SEE ALSO: Israeli troops mistakenly kill 3 hostages during fighting in Gaza
He cautioned, however, against drawing broad conclusions about what the tragedy says about Israeli operations in Gaza, saying Israel had conducted fine-tuned raids earlier in the conflict.
“Right now, we’re mourning with the families that are getting the worst possible news a family can get,” Mr. Kirby said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.