The family of Alon Shamriz, who was accidentally killed by IDF friendly fire, responded to the announcement that the IDF will form a committee on the topic of recognition of the status of killed hostages in Gaza in an interview on Thursday.
The family members of Alon, who was abducted to the Gaza Strip and accidentally killed by the army in Shejaiya, are calling for him and other hostages who were killed to be recognized as fallen soldiers. Yonatan, his brother, protested the establishment of the committee to investigate the matter - and clarified: "Not only should Alon receive recognition as a fallen soldier, he should also receive a medal of service."
In an interview with Ynet, Yonatan describes that the family's request to retroactively enlist Alon and recognize him as a fallen soldier was refused and that the announcement of the establishment of a committee to examine the issue is, according to him, an attempt by the IDF to push off the issue. "In the IDF, nothing takes a few months,' it will take years," he said.
Other cases haven't been as complicated
"I don't understand why a committee needs to be established," he continued, "I know of many, many cases of civilians who retroactively served on October 7 after being murdered and thus were recognized as fallen soldiers. I think that the establishment of such a committee does a disservice to the truth, and it is intended to smear us. The attempt is to deflect the subject."
When asked about these previous cases with simpler conclusions, he responded with a few examples.
"Unfortunately, I know of several cases. One example is that of a good friend of mine, who was murdered on October 7 in his apartment. He was not a reservist and was one of the first to be murdered in the kibbutz. He enlisted retrospectively and was recognized as an IDF soldier."
He continued, "There is another case of a boy from Nahal Oz who was hit by friendly fire. He was also not in reserve service, and he was also a soldier in retrospect. That is why it is very strange to me that Alon's case was refused. His whole company was drafted, and he just couldn't answer the phone because the Nukhba terrorists took him to the tunnel. These are not practical stories."
According to Shamriz, the family did not hesitate to battle with the IDF. "Our request was refused without any reason being given. So we filed an appeal against the decision," he recalled.
"We received no document and no explanation, so we will move forward with all the steps at our disposal and demand answers."
Other hostage deaths are close to home
Yonatan was then asked about the announcement of the deaths of Itai Svirsky and Yossi Sharabi, also captives of Hamas. He responded with the following:
"I know Kibbutz Bari closely, and I share in the grief of the families. I have said in the past that the Israeli government did not prioritize the return of the hostages. After the women and children were returned, for them to return more hostages is not an obligation, it is simply a nice to have, and that's how it seems," he said.
His concluding statement was as follows: "This is delusional and painful, and it's unimaginable. I can't understand this idiot continuing to endanger the lives of the hostages and actually betraying them for the second and third time. The state should do everything to bring the hostages back alive as soon as possible, and after they do what they want with Hamas. Without the return of the kidnapped, there is no resurrection for the country."