- Israeli soldiers said they found dead children on a kibbutz near the border between Israel and Gaza.
- The Israeli army told Insider that some were beheaded.
- The kibbutz was attacked by Hamas on Saturday, and fighting there continued until Sunday.
An Israeli military spokesman told Insider on Tuesday that its soldiers found the decapitated bodies of children in Kfar Azza, a kibbutz near Gaza.
The spokesman, Major Nir Dinar, did not mention the number of children’s bodies that were found, nor the number of children who were beheaded.
Insider could not independently confirm what was found, but Israeli media also published this claim and attributed it to the soldiers.
The spokesperson told Insider that while he had not seen photos or videos himself, “soldiers on the ground told me so.”
“these people [Hamas] Dinar added: “They are animals. They slaughtered women and children in worse ways than ISIS.”
Reports began emerging Tuesday that Israeli soldiers made the gruesome discoveries in a self-sufficient rural community near Gaza.
A later statement from Dinar said: “We cannot confirm any numbers. What happened in Kibbutz Kfar Azza is a massacre in which women, young children and the elderly were brutally slaughtered in the manner of ISIS.”
Israeli officials appeared to confirm the beheadings, with Defense Minister Yoav Galant telling soldiers, “Whoever comes here to behead – we will exterminate him.” According to a screenshot from Israeli news outlet N12 shared and translated on X.
The kibbutz was attacked by Hamas activists on Saturday, with fighting there continuing into Sunday. Hamas targeted several kibbutzim near the border with Gaza after militants breached the gate separating the area from Israel.
Nicole Zedek, correspondent for the Israeli news station, i24news, “Children, their heads cut off, that’s what they do,” he said [the soldiers] He said.”
Speaking from Kfar Azza, she added: “You can see some of these soldiers now comforting each other.”
In another section, subscribed on x, Zedek said, on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that one of the commanders there told her that “about 40 children, at least, were taken out on stretchers.”
In a third The i24News clip was shared on XAn Israeli soldier on the kibbutz said that Hamas was “very bad,” adding that “they behead children, they behead women.”
CNN correspondent Nick Robertson is also on the ground in Kfar AzzaReports at the scene indicated that bodies were being collected and counted.
“There were a lot of members of this kibbutz dead,” he said. “Men, women and children, handcuffed, shot, executed and beheaded.”
According to the Israeli Embassy in the United States. At least 1,000 Israelis, most of them civilians, had been killed as of Tuesday.
Reports and videos have also emerged of Hamas kidnapping and holding Israelis hostage in Gaza since Saturday’s attack. Israeli officials did so At least 50 families have been notified Their loved ones are being held by Hamas.
Hamas responds to this She threatened that she would be executed publicly One Israeli hostage for every time Israel strikes Gaza without warning.
Retaliatory Israeli air strikes also killed at least 830 people in Gaza. The Washington Post reportedQuoted from the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The death toll includes at least 140 children. According to the latest update from the Palestinian Ministry of Healthwhich was published on Monday.
Israel declared a complete “siege” of Gaza, cutting off supplies and cutting off electricity to civilians living there.
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