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‘Kfar Aza smells of death’: Inside the Israeli border village where ‘babies were slaughtered’ in Hamas attack

Warning: Distressing content ‘When Hamas came they decapitated women and children,’ an Israeli major claims in the village a few miles from Gaza, writes Bel Trew. The bodies are hidden so it’s impossible to verify, but it is clear much blood has been shed

by Bel Trew for The Independent (London)
Oct 10, 2023

The Israeli village smells of death. The air is thick with the scent of bodies decomposing in the sunshine.

A stutter of machine-gun fire erupts as we first enter Kfar Aza, located a few miles from the border fence with Gaza.

Israeli soldiers, some flat to the ground, fan out silently in a staggered Z-shape. They edge steadily forward through a field, while rocket fire burns lines through the sky above us.

“When Hamas came here they decapitated women, they decapitated children. We saw dead babies, girls,” says Major David Ben Zion, 37, a reservist deployed here Saturday to try to evacuate the few survivors of the onslaught. The Independent did not see evidence of his claims.
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‘At least 40 babies killed’: Foreign reporters taken to massacre site in Kfar Aza

With terrorists’ bodies still lying in the grass, international press witnesses firsthand the shocking aftermath of Hamas’s slaughter of Israeli civilians

By LAZAR BERMAN for The Times of Israel
Today, 4:16 pm Updated at 6:34 pm

The IDF took dozens of foreign journalists on Tuesday to see for themselves the death and destruction wrought by Hamas terrorists this week.

With explosions and artillery fire in the background, the crews, wearing helmets and flak jackets, picked through the destroyed Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where the bodies of Palestinian terrorists still lay outside of fire-scarred homes.

The journalists were protected by at least a company of IDF soldiers, clad in full combat gear as they continued to clear homes.

Reporters spoke of the stench of death in the air.

Still, the pastoral simplicity of the kibbutz with its lawns and one-story homes was evident, further underscoring how jarring were the atrocities that took place only days before.

“It’s not a war,” General Itai Veruv, head of the IDF’s Depth Command, told reporters. “It’s not a battlefield. You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms, and how the terrorists kill them. It’s not a war… it’s a massacre.”

“It’s something I never saw in my life. It’s something I used to imagine of my grandmother and my grandfather in Europe and other places,” he said.

A reporter from i24 News said that an IDF commander told her that they had found the bodies of some 40 babies, some of whom had been beheaded.

Israel has yet to organize a tour of the massacre sites for Israeli journalists, showing how strongly the country is prioritizing world opinion.

When Ukrainian forces liberated the Kyiv suburb of Bucha from Russian forces in April 2022, Ukraine arranged similar tours for journalists to ensure widespread coverage of Russian war crimes against residents.
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Israeli army says it does not have 'confirmation' about allegations that ‘Hamas beheaded babies’

Israeli army spokesperson tells Anadolu over phone that they have no information confirming allegations that ‘Hamas beheaded babies’

by Turgut Alp Boyraz | for Andalu Agency, Turkey
10.10.2023 - Update : 10.10.2023

JERUSALEM

The Israeli army has no information confirming allegations that "Hamas beheaded babies," Israeli army spokesperson unit told Anadolu on Tuesday.

It was alleged that Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, "beheaded many Israeli babies" on the Israeli side during the early Saturday morning attack launched from Gaza.

When Anadolu contacted the Israeli army spokesperson unit over the phone and asked about the allegations, she said "We have seen the news, but we do not have any details or confirmation about that."

The situation escalated with a Saturday surprise attack from Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip on southern Israeli towns. Israel retaliated with massive airstrikes in Gaza and placed the enclave under total blockade.

More than 1,900 people have so far been killed in the violence, including at least 900 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis, according to authorities.

Israel has also cut water and electricity supplies to Gaza, worsening the blockaded enclave’s already dire humanitarian situation.

Home to nearly 2.2 million people, the Gaza Strip has already been reeling under a crippling Israeli siege since 2007.

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