Mother of IDF reservist killed by Palestinian sniper says she'd be happy to see her son's killer freed from prison if it meant Hamas' hostages were returned

The mother of an IDF reservist who was killed on-duty by a Palestinian sniper has said she would be happy to see her son's killer freed from jail if Hamas' hostages were freed. 

Robi Damelin's son David was killed when he was just 28 in 2002 when a Palestinian sniper, hiding in the hills behind the Ofra settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, shot him, six other soldiers and three civilians. 

Tha'ir Kayid Hammad, Robi's son's killer, was arrested two years after the shooting and was sentenced to life behind bars. 

But Robi said the justice of having her son's killer locked up behind bars was far outweighed by the anguish felt by the families of the hostages still being held by Hamas.

'I think about that sniper who is in jail for killing him along with nine other soldiers and civilians. I say free him if it will bring back even one of your loved ones,' she wrote for the Haaretz newspaper 

'He is not my prisoner to hold on to. The pain he caused me [will] be with me forever. 

'So will the pain of imagining him living freely again, as it will be for the families of the other Israelis he killed,' she added. 

The seven-day temporary truce deal saw Hamas release 105 of the 240 hostages it took from Israel on October 7, in exchange for Israel releasing 240 Palestinian prisoners from jail. 

The truce also allowed some humanitarian aid into Gaza after much of the coastal territory of 2.3 million people was reduced to wasteland in the Israeli assault. 

She said she'd be happy to see her son's killer, as well as other Palestinian prisoners freed in exchange for the remaining 135 prisoners, as there was no way of knowing that they would re-offend again.  

'Who are those people against such a deal who became experts overnight, and somehow know all the statistics and just how many Israelis will be attacked in the future by Palestinian prisoners set free?

'There is real risk, it is not "fair" they might be returned, but I think to myself: do they have any idea what it is like to not know where their beloved child, or wife or father or mother or brother is?'

Israel has come under intense criticism after it was revealed that IDF troops killed three Israeli hostages who spoke in Hebrew and held white flags. 

Yotam Haim, 28, Alon Shamriz, 26, and Samer El-Talalka, 22, were tragically gunned down during Israeli operations in Gaza City. 

The hostages were fired upon against Israel's rules of engagement, the official confirmed.

The Israeli military said a soldier saw the hostages emerging tens of meters from Israeli forces in the area of Shejaiya. The IDF previously said the three men had been wrongly identified as a threat.

'They're all without shirts and they have a stick with a white cloth on it. The soldier feels threatened and opens fire. He declares that they're terrorists, they (forces) open fire, two are killed immediately,' said the military official. 

The third hostage was wounded and retreated into a nearby building where he called for help in Hebrew.

'Immediately the battalion commander issues a ceasefire order, but again there's another burst of fire towards the third figure and he also dies,' said the official. 'This was against our rules of engagement,' he added.

Around 19,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health officials, since October 7 when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, and captured 240 hostages in their incursion.