IDF Maj Gen Itai Veruv described scene in Kfar Aza as ‘a massacre’
Israel’s military has discovered unspeakable horrors in an Israeli community that was attacked by Hamas on Saturday, including dozens of dead babies, some with their heads chopped off, Israeli media reported.
According to local Israeli outlet i24News, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers moved into Kfar Aza, one of the communities Hamas terrorists invaded early Saturday morning, and discovered about 40 dead babies, some decapitated — highlighting the brutality of the invading forces.
The IDF were removing the bodies of victims found in the area when they found the children’s remains. Israeli soldiers are attempting to use bones to identify the victims, according to the report.
“It’s not a war, it’s not a battlefield. You see the babies, the mother, the father, in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms, and how the terrorists killed them,” IDF Maj. Gen. Itai Veruv said, describing the scene, i24News reported.
“It’s a massacre.”
On Saturday morning, Hamas-led forces poured over the Israel-Gaza border while residents were sleeping, dragging people into the streets, taking some hostage while beheading and killing others. More than 700 Israelis, including men, women, children and the elderly, were indiscriminately killed in one day — the largest terror attack in a single day in Israel’s history.
The Israeli army allowed members of the media into Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which is located less than a quarter of a mile from the Gaza border.
In the city, residents were murdered and their bodies left lying in the streets. Cars were completely burned and the devastation was extended to buildings, some of which were abandoned and destroyed.
According to i24News, the destructive visuals were met with what was described as “the smell of death.”
The once-vibrant community is now unrecognizable after Saturday’s brutal and swift attack.
The outlet described the level of barbarity they witnessed as what the Allied forces must have experienced walking into Nazi-controlled areas during World War II.
“Many soldiers were called up for reserve service and could be seen actively consoling each other after what they had to witness. They arrived expecting the worst, but the scenes are beyond anything that one could imagine. Some soldiers say they found babies with their heads cut off, entire families gunned down in their beds. About 40 babies and young children have been taken out on gurneys — so far,” i24News reported.
The outlet added, “The atrocities that were committed with guns, grenades, knives, all targeting innocent civilians in their homes. We can see soccer nets on lawns, a sign of the bucolic life that once existed here. Doors are wide open, strollers left behind, sidewalks destroyed by artillery. There are charred houses as terrorists burned down houses to drive the civilians sheltering inside to come out.”
According to the report, 200 victims were found in the city.
The BBC also reports that Israeli army, caught off guard, took 12 hours to get to the kibbutz, according to Davidi Ben Zion, the deputy commander of Unit 71, an experienced team of paratroopers who led the assault.
“Thank God we saved many lives of many parents and children,” he told theBBC”. “Unfortunately, some were burned by Molotov [cocktails]. They are very aggressive, like animals.”
Mr Ben Zion said Hamas gunmen who killed families, including babies, were “just a jihad machine to kill everybody, [people] without weapons, without nothing, just normal citizens that want to take their breakfast and that’s all.”
Some of the victims, he said, were decapitated.
“They killed them and cut some of their heads, it’s a dreadful thing to see… and we must remember who is the enemy, and what our mission is, [for] justice where there is a right side and all the world needs to be behind us.”
Another officer pointed to a bloodied purple sleeping bag. A swollen toe poked out. He said the woman underneath had been killed and decapitated in her front garden. I did not ask the officer to move the sleeping bag to inspect her body. A few yards away was the blackened, swollen corpse of a dead Hamas gunman.
Kibbutz Kfar Aza adds to the considerable evidence that is accumulating of war crimes by Hamas gunmen. Like their Israeli neighbours, the community was taken by surprise.
IDF soldiers have secured control over Israeli towns and villages but remain vigilant to stop any terrorists that continue operating in the area.
While the fighting has left Kfar Aza, fighting between Israel and Hamas can still be heard from its streets. The sound of artillery and rocket fire can also be heard in the background.
Israel has amassed tanks and forces near the Gaza border as a ground invasion is expected. Israel continues to launch major airstrikes on Gaza.
Cover pix: Israeli soldiers remove the body of a person killed during an attack by Palestinian terrorists in Kfar Aza, in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip, on Oct. 10, 2023. (Jack Guez / AFP via Getty Images)
With agency reports
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