Gruesome Hamas attack footage shown to Australian media
A stomach-churning compilation video showing Hamas militants executing Israeli civilians has been screened to a group of Australian media on Tuesday.
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Dozens of images of burnt babies, blood-soaked bodies and beheaded soldiers were compiled and presented to Australia media in an intimate screening at the Israeli Embassy on Tuesday, only the third viewing in the world, as Benjamin Netenyahu escalates his war on Hamas.
The Daily Telegraph was one of the media outlets who attended the briefing, which has not yet been shown to the government or the Prime Minister.
The Israeli government has previously shown the video to a group of international media in Israel and at the Israeli consulate in New York, with the screening prompting horror and disbelief from journalists in the rooms.
It was no different in the room we walked into on Tuesday, with the Israeli officials telling us it was the “obligation” of journalists reporting on the conflict to face the horrors.
The video, which went for more than 40 minutes, included footage from CCTV cameras, videos taken by victims, first responders, and the militants themselves.
The most harrowing were images of burnt and murdered babies and young children whose Mickey Mouse pyjamas were soaked in blood as they lay lifeless.
Journalists were provided copies of translations of the conversations captured, with Allahu Akbar the most common phrase uttered by the terrorists while on their rampage.
Many of them were wearing Israeli Defence Force uniforms while committing the crimes, likely secured from military bases where they began their attack and stole the uniforms as disguises.
Alongside the images of crouching civilians and terrified children, militants were spotted taking selfies, smiling and cheering as they filmed themselves shooting at dogs, babies and families huddled in safe rooms.
One man was recorded telling his family he killed “10 Jews” with his “bare hands” as he urged his parents to look through the evidence on their WhatsApp.
In another clip, two young boys sit in their underwear crying after witnessing their father bombed with a grenade as he tried to save them.
Moments later, their mother arrives at the scene and is carried away by the Kibbutz security as she wails over her husband’s dead body.
The officials were unable to confirm the fate of the two boys, the younger one telling the camera he could only see out of one eye after the rampage on their home.
Hostages were dumped on the back of utes with broken limbs and gunshot wounds.
Those that didn’t survive were stomped on by the terrorists, while one man was barbarically attacked with a shovel to ensure he was dead.
The video included a lengthy slide show of the dead bodies of festival-goers who were gunned down, many of them women including one found with her skirt hiked up and her underwear pulled down.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the world must know now “why there has never been peace with the Palestinian leadership and why Hamas must now be obliterated.”
“Those who call for a truce with Hamas must know who they are seeking to keep in power and shield from justice. Those who have denied these atrocities should see the people whose torture and slaughter they are denying,” Mr Ryvchin said.
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network said the screening was an attempt to avert the nation’s attention from growing international criticism of Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
“One atrocity does not justify another. Hamas’s actions occurred on one black day. Israel has been perpetrating that horror on the people of Gaza for 24 black days now, and for over 27,000 days before October 7.
“Israel has now killed more than 8,000 people, including 3,747 children. That’s a precious child on average each and every 10 minutes since October 7.”
“This is nothing but a desperate bid to stem the growing international criticism of the war crimes being committed by Israel in Gaza.”