Israeli hostages killed by troops had been holding a white flag, military official says

Three Israeli hostages who were mistakenly shot by Israeli troops on Friday in the Gaza Strip had been waving a makeshift white flag and were shirtless when they were killed, an Israeli military official said Saturday, in Israel's first acknowledgement that it had harmed any hostages in the war against Hamas.

Anger over the mistaken killings is likely to increase pressure on the Israeli government to renew Qatar-mediated negotiations with Hamas over swapping more of the remaining captives, which Israel says number 129, for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Israeli leaders have said the hostages' release can only be achieved through military pressure.

A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, reiterated on Saturday that there will be no further release of hostages before the war ends and Israel accepts their conditions for an exchange.

Reuters reported on Saturday that the head of Israel's Mossad spy agency met Qatar's prime minister in Europe late on Friday, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sidestepped a question about the reported meeting at a televised news conference on Saturday, saying he wouldn't divulge information to Hamas. He said Israel received requests for a ceasefire and to remove troops in Gaza talks but would not do so.

Hamas released more than 100 hostages in exchange for imprisoned Palestinians during a brief Qatar-mediated ceasefire in November. Nearly all freed on both sides were women and minors. Talks on further swaps broke down.

Netanyahu said Israel's offensive in Gaza had helped clinch a partial hostage-release deal in November. "The instruction I am giving the negotiating team is predicated on this pressure, without which we have nothing," he said.

He called the Gaza conflict an existential war that must be fought until victory, despite pressure and costs, and said the territory would be demilitarized and under Israeli security control.

Israel's account of how the hostages died also raised questions about the conduct of Israeli ground troops. Palestinians on several occasions have reported that Israeli soldiers opened fire as civilians tried to flee to safety. 

Hamas has claimed other hostages were previously killed by Israeli fire or airstrikes, without presenting evidence.

An Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to brief reporters in line with military regulations, said it was likely that the hostages had been abandoned by their militant captors or had escaped.

The soldiers' behaviour was "against our rules of engagement," the official said, and was being investigated at the highest level.

The hostages did everything they could to signal they weren't a threat, "but this shooting was done during fighting and under pressure," Herzi Halevi, chief of the military's general staff, said in a statement later Saturday.