From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Taverny Sea, and this is the Daily. The accidental killing of three hostages by Israel's military has shocked Israelis

and is raising new questions about the way that Israel is conducting its war

against Hamas.

Today I spoke with my colleagues Patrick Kingsley and Hibba-Yezbeck

about whether Israel's military campaign is working and the humanitarian crisis it is

left in its wake. It's Thursday, December 21st.

It's Thursday, December 21st. So Patrick's war against Hamas is now in its 11th week and we wanted to come to

you to really look closely at this question of what has Israel achieved so far in this war?

Israel of course has pledged to destroy Hamas. How far has it come on that front?

And then late last week, something happened

that seemed to make that question even more urgent.

Israel's military accidentally killed three Israeli hostages

in Gaza.

And the interpretation was that this symbolized

some of the problems with the way Israel had been conducting the war.

So let's start with that.

Tell me about that killing and what it means.

Well, according to the military narrative, three hostages who were captured on October 7th during

the Hamas-led attack on Israel escaped their captivity and tried to make a break for freedom towards the Israeli

military lines by advancing slowly, waving a white flag, having taken off their shirts so that the Israeli soldiers would see that they were not carrying guns or strapped to any suicide bombs.

And despite that, Israeli soldiers

against the rules of war and their instructions by the military, fired on the three escaped hostages,

...