An IDF probe has determined that Efrat Katz, 68, was likely killed by Israeli Air Force helicopter fire while Hamas terrorists kidnapped the Kibbutz Nir Oz resident on October 7.

The IDF says the probe found that the military’s surveillance systems could not distinguish Israeli hostages from Hamas terrorists while in moving vehicles, and therefore the shooting was “defined as shooting at a vehicle with terrorists.”

The chief of the IAF, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, says that he “did not find fault in the operation by the helicopter crew, who operated in compliance with the orders in a complex reality of war.”