Forty babies and children murdered and beheaded by Hamas terrorists in Israeli kibbutz Kfar Aza
Israeli soldiers discover the remains of 40 babies and young children, many beheaded, in a Hamas massacre at Kfar Aza | Warning: graphic content
As many as 40 babies and young children have been horrifically slaughtered, many of them beheaded, in a Hamas terrorist massacre unleashed on the kibbutz of Kfar Aza.
Israel defence officials opened the kibbutz to international media on Wednesday, four days after the Hamas terrorists stormed the kibbutz close to the Gaza border, appearing to target and mutilate the most vulnerable: pregnant women and young babies.
The brutal sights of beheaded young children were so disturbing, soldiers who were tasked with dismantling booby traps and recovering the bodies – after having secured the area – were seen crying and comforting each other.
The atrocities from Kfar Aza, as well as Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Re’em shows that the Hamas militants were intent on brutalising their mass murder spree, to leave a deep psychological imprint on those left behind.
In one harrowing image from Kfar Aza a baby cot, with a small dress on the top, is drenched in blood. i24News correspondent Nicole Zedek said soldiers had told her many babies were found next to their cots with their heads cut off.
Her colleague Maël Benoliel, also at Kfar Aza said: “We’re talking about burned houses with entire families killed inside, women and children whose heads have been cut off. It’s the apocalypse”. Many bodies were still lying in the street.
Israeli Major General Itai Veruv told international journalists: “You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers, in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms and how the terrorist kills them.
“It‘s not a war, it’s not a battle field. It’s a massacre, it’s a terror activity.”
He added: “It is something that I never saw in my life. It’s something that we used to imagine from our grandfathers, grandmothers in the pogrom in Europe and other places. It’s not something that happens in new history.”
Local security at the Kfar Aza kibbutz battled with the Hamas militants for more than 17 hours but were overrun when Hamas called for reinforcements and around 70 of them attacked most of the village.
Soldiers have not yet tallied the total number of the dead from the kibbutz, and are still clearing house by house, finding atrocities in nearly every one.
Israeli authorities say more than 1008 Israelis have been confirmed killed by Hamas since Saturday’s shock attack, including more than 260 young music lovers at the Supernova festival.
The Israeli military earlier announced it had found the bodies of 1500 Hamas gunmen who had been involved in the attacks.
Meanwhile the mother of German tattoo artist Shani Louk, believed to have been murdered at the Supernova festival said she has been told her daughter is still alive.
Ricarda Louk told the German newspaper Bild: “We now have evidence that Shani is alive but has a serious head injury and is in critical condition. Every minute is critical.”
Shani, 22, was motionless and her body in unnatural positions when she was paraded and filmed as a trophy on the back of a truck, with soldiers spitting on her.
Ms Louk urged German authorities to act quickly and get her daughter out of the Gaza Strip.
“We shouldn’t argue about questions of jurisdiction now,” she said.
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