IDF shares harrowing videos, photos of Hamas attack
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The Israel Defense Forces shared a harrowing, 43-minute compilation Monday of Hamas’ surprise terror attack that killed more than 1,400 people — including an interview with a terrorist who admitted that he had clear orders to kill women and children and even rape the bodies of the dead.
The horrific videos and pictures shared with journalists contain graphic evidence of Hamas gunning down, torturing and decapitating civilians during its invasion across the Gaza border on Oct. 7.
One of the videos shows the shocking moment a group of terrorists, disguised as IDF soldiers, flag down passing cars before shooting the occupants.
The bodies are then dragged out of the vehicles and left on the side of the road, with the Hamas members seen stealing the victims’ belongings from the bullet-riddled cars, the Times of Israel reported.
Another video shows a captured member of Hamas admitting that the terrorists “became animals” when carrying out their orders to slaughter and terrorize people across Israel.
“It’s things a person doesn’t do — beheading people, having sex with dead bodies, meaning the body of a dead, young woman,” the terrorists said in the video published by Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster. “It’s not humans that do that.”
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Although the Hamas operative said he knew Islam forbids the killing of women, children and seniors, he explained that he and others were told to ignore that and enter every Israeli home they could with the intent to shoot “anyone who was in the house.”
“In the mosques, they tell us to take mercy on women and children. In the army [Hamas], they tell us to kill, massacre them everywhere,” he said.
The member said they were also told to stomp on people’s heads and behead them, likening his group to ISIS and calling Hamas “inhuman.”
Another video reviewed by reporters shows the moment one victim was brutally beheaded using a shovel, and another incident where a father was killed by a grenade in front of his two boys as a Hamas soldier enjoys a drink in the bloody aftermath, according to the BBC.
“Daddy is dead, this is not a prank,” one of the sons yells. “Why am I alive?”
The sickening images come as Israel attempts to stamp out skepticism about the attack, with the IDF saying many online have spread misinformation to try to downplay the Oct. 7 terror attack, comparing them to Holocaust deniers.
Maj. Gen. Michael Edelstein, a former IDF Gaza division commander, told reporters that the new videos and photos should also put into perspective the need to destroy Hamas after Israel received criticism over its airstrikes in Gaza, which have killed more than 5,000 Palestinians, including children, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry.
Israel-Hamas war: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years, in an early-morning ambush Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Terrorists killed more than 1,200 Israelis, wounded more than 4,200, and took at least 200 hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce, “We are at war,” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
The Gaza Health Ministry — which is controlled by Hamas — reported at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured since the war began.
“We see that some of the channels are trying to compare what Israel is doing and what those vile terrorists are doing,” Edelstein said. “I cannot understand anyone who compares.”
“And after what we have shared with you, you should know it.”
As it released the videos and photos, Israel intensified its airstrikes in Gaza yet again, hitting more than 320 targets over the past day, IDF officials reported.
The bombardments have mostly focused on northern Gaza as Israel is set to pave the way for a ground invasion, releasing multiple pamphlets in the area warning civilians to flee or be considered allies of Hamas.
The move has been condemned by the United Nations, which operates an aid group for civilians, saying the mobilization of more than 1 million people was not realistic, with many of the wounded in hospitals unable to be moved.
On Monday, the IDF also released footage of its new “Iron Sting” motor bombing system, which is being used to conduct precise attacks in Gaza to take out targets and enemy rocket launchers.
“Its operational use will revolutionize ground warfare and equip battalions with organic, accurate, and effective firepower,” the IDF said in a statement.
Elbit Systems, which developed the “Iron Sting” or “Steel Sting,” touted it in 2021 as a “precise, laser- and GPS-guided mortar munition” to engage in dense, urban environments while “reducing the possibility of collateral damage and preventing injury to non-combatants.”
The new system could quell fears from the international community that has expressed concerns over the safety of the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas who could be injured or killed by Israel’s repeated bombardment.
The IDF estimates that Hamas has about 222 hostages in Gaza, an increase from 210 last week.
The hostage situation has remained at the forefront of concern in Israel’s counterattack as the kidnapped include at least 30 children and citizens from more than 30 nations.
After releasing two Americans last week, Hamas released two Israeli women, one 79 and the other 85, on Monday, with another 50 dual citizens scheduled to be released to the Red Cross following negotiations with Qatar and Egypt.
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