Israel unveils ‘barbaric’ images of Hamas attacks
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Closed-circuit television footage shows a Hamas militant firing upon a car while the occupants are waiting to enter the Be'eri kibbutz in southern Israel on Oct 7 .
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
TEL AVIV – Film of a gunman beheading a body and other victims being riddled with bullets in cars are among hundreds of hours of footage Israel says it has collected since Hamas attacks unleashed a devastating war.
Ahead of an expected ground invasion of the blockaded Gaza Strip, the Israeli army on Monday showed the international media about 40 minutes of images from the Oct 7 assault
In one scene, said to have been shot with a militant’s mobile phone, a gunman is seen hacking at the head of a dead victim with a garden tool in Be’eri, a kibbutz community near the Gaza border where more than 100 people died.
Others can be seen standing nearby, shouting encouragement.
Shots are then fired at the body.
Hamas has used some images of its attacks on its social media but has denied that any abuses had been committed.
Israel showed some footage to United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other visiting ministers to highlight what it called “barbaric” action, with infants killed and women allegedly raped and tortured before being slaughtered.
AFP was unable to independently verify claims of rape and torture.
Around the world “people are saying this is another round in Gaza”, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
“But it’s something else. It is a war against humanity, not against Israel,” Mr Hagari told reporters after watching the harrowing images of the attacks.
The violence since Oct 7 in the early morning has killed more than 1,400 people in Israel, which responded with strikes on Gaza that have so far killed at least 2,750 people.
The film shown by Mr Hagari has been taken from the body cameras and mobile phones of some of the hundreds of Hamas fighters killed or taken prisoner, Hamas social media, as well as the phones of victims and emergency responders, military officials said.
Blood stains covering the floor of a house in Israel’s Be’eri kibbutz.
PHOTO: AFP
The images show gunmen entering a military base, searching for victims in Be’eri, where dozens of hostages had been seized, and mowing down young women and men fleeing a music festival. As a result, more than 250 died.
Blood-soaked corridor
Be’eri was one of the worst hit of about 20 communities near the Gaza border that were targeted as well as army bases.
One sequence shows a car trying to leave through the community gate and gunmen stepping out to fire at the driver and passenger. The car moves on with the occupants seemingly dead.
A long bodycam sequence shows militants in green fatigues crossing well-tended gardens between the empty homes searching for targets.
A flip knife covered in blood is seen in a room, following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Israel’s Be’eri kibbutz.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Gunfire can be heard in the background and one dog that appears is pumped with three bullets.
A male body is seen being dragged out of a car and his phone and bag taken.
Film from a first responder’s mobile phone shows a blood-soaked corridor in a home with footprints and trails as though a body had been dragged along.
Other images show about a dozen young women screaming in a shelter as gunfire goes off outside.
Several show gunmen firing into the bodies of victims.
The covered bodies of Israeli victims are gathered at kibbutz Be’eri, near the border with Gaza.
PHOTO: AFP
One woman in blood-soaked clothes is seen being dragged by her hair from the back of a four-wheel drive and pushed into a front seat.
She is now believed to be one of at least 199 hostages Israel says are held in Gaza.
Military officials said the images have been verified against official and family accounts of the killings and the identification of victims. AFP
