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In an auditorium at an Israeli army base north of Tel Aviv on Monday, I joined dozens of international journalists who have been proven 43 minutes of graphic, grotesque video and images that the Israel Protection Forces stated have been made throughout Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel. A few of the photos had circulated on-line earlier than, in some instances in truncated and edited type, however most of what we noticed was unedited and really disturbing.
The IDF stated it compiled the photographs from militants’ physique cameras, victims’ sprint cams and cellphones, safety cameras at kibbutzim, and different sources. The IDF determined to share them, worldwide spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht advised me, as a part of his nation’s “narrative battle.” It comes as worldwide criticism mounts over civilian casualties in Israel’s army marketing campaign in Gaza.
“We perceive that there is a narrative battle right here and that now we have to point out the world what occurred right here,” Hecht stated. “We’re doing all the pieces we will to point out the media that there is a purpose why we’re doing what we’re doing. [Hamas] began this in essentially the most heinous means.”
We weren’t allowed to document the photographs performed for us by the IDF — we have been advised, out of respect for grieving households. The Hamas militants who launched the shock assault on Israel operated on a a lot completely different coverage, filming and livestreaming components of their murderous rampage with physique or helmet cameras.
Not the entire materials may very well be independently verified by the information media. That is a few of what we have been proven:
Hamas militants lobbing a grenade into what seems to be a house bomb shelter, killing a father earlier than he might slam the door shut. His younger sons, carrying solely their underwear, have been splattered with blood however survived. In one other clip, the boys are of their kitchen, crying out for his or her mom, as one attacker pulls a Coca-Cola from their fridge and takes a leisurely sip. The youthful brother says he cannot see out of 1 eye and asks, “Why am I alive?”
Some journalists within the corridor gasped and held their heads of their fingers.
In one other clip, a militant stands over a person who seems to have been shot within the intestine and hacks at him a number of occasions with a backyard hoe.
As Hamas fighters raged via one other kibbutz, we watched them set hearth to a house; shoot a black Labrador trotting towards them; and execute a person in a lounge chair via his display door — he groans and slumps over.
We additionally noticed clips of militants firing at shut vary at two girls huddling in worry below a desk; spraying bullets at unsuspecting drivers till their automobiles gradual to a halt; dragging bloodied our bodies out of 1 automotive and driving it away.
On the Nova music pageant, we noticed younger Israelis smiling and dancing; later, Hamas militants hearth at festival-goers hiding below automobiles after which meticulously shoot right into a line of transportable bogs. They toss hostages — bloodied and barely shifting — right into a pile behind a pickup truck.
In the course of the screening, most journalists sat silently watching. Just a few peered on the movies via their fingers. At the least one was crying.
Then there’s a chilling cellphone recording the IDF stated it retrieved from a call-recording app on a cellphone discovered on the scene — a Hamas fighter’s name to his mother and father in Gaza, boasting, “Dad, I killed 10 [Jews] with my naked fingers.”
“Mahmood, the place are you?” his father asks.
Mahmood names a kibbutz in southern Israel, including, “Please, be happy with me.”
We hear his mom cry within the background, “Promise you will return residence!”
After the viewing, IDF Main Common Mickey Edelstein defined why the IDF had invited worldwide journalists there to look at the movies: He stated he was “shocked” to see some media making an attempt to equate Israel’s actions in Gaza with Hamas’s atrocities in Israel. “Is it equal? I can not perceive such a comparability,” he stated.
Israel says Hamas’ assaults have killed greater than 1,400 folks and left 5,400 wounded. Greater than two weeks of Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza have killed practically 5,800 folks and injured nearly 16,300, based on Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which is run by Hamas.
As photos of the devastation in Gaza — together with Palestinian girls and youngsters displaced, maimed, killed or weeping for his or her family members — have crammed the airwaves and social media, Israeli authorities have turn into keenly conscious that the sympathy their nation obtained after the Oct. 7 assaults has been waning as worldwide condemnation grows — a shift that Hamas seems prepared to take advantage of.
“We’re not combating the civilians, the youngsters in Gaza,” Lt. Col. Hecht advised me. “However it is a very complicated scenario, and we’ll ensure Hamas is eradicated.”
After I requested him about criticism that Israel should do extra to keep away from civilian casualties in Gaza and that it has struck civilians who had evacuated to southern Gaza after Israel warned them to depart the north, Hecht responded that Hamas is “utilizing their folks as … human shields. … [Hamas] desires their folks to get harm.”
“We’re doing all the pieces we will to inform civilians to maneuver,” he stated. “… However you noticed the visuals. [Hamas] got here in and so they went for anybody they may, and now we have the duty for this to not occur once more. We’re defending our nation.”
After I identified to Hecht that many individuals felt sympathy for Israelis who suffered within the Oct. 7 assaults, however in addition they really feel sympathy for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, he stated, “So will we.”
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