Mother of Hostage Killed by IDF Blasts Former Official

Iris Haim, mother of Yotam Haim, who was abducted to Gaza and mistakenly killed by IDF forces, directly criticized retired Major General Nitzan Alon, former head of the hostage and missing persons headquarters. In a Facebook post and subsequent interview with i24NEWS, Haim stated Alon has no right to speak after his "direct part in my son's death."

Haim questioned Alon's claims that hostages did not return due to thwarted deals, asking why he wasn't accountable for all aspects of her son's case. She asserted that Alon's unit knew her son's location in Gaza's Shuja'iyya neighborhood. She detailed that during Hanukkah week, Yotam, Alon Shamriz, and Samer Talalka escaped their captors and disappeared from the unit's radar, despite prior knowledge of their whereabouts. Haim added that an officer had informed her they had precise intelligence and planned a rescue.

She also recounted an incident where her son received a call from a Hamas operative posing as someone else, attempting to ascertain if the family knew his condition. This call was passed to intelligence, who dismissed it as fake news, by which time Yotam, Shamriz, and Talalka were already moving within Gaza.

While senior officers visited her after Yotam's death admitting fault, Haim stated she had not seen Alon himself in three years. She expressed deep disappointment that someone of Alon's rank did not take responsibility, especially if he intended to blame others.