Reports of the murder of babies at Kibbutz Kfar Aza (Update: BBC report)

Yesterday I wrote about the massacre at a music festival which was being held in the desert on the day Hamas militants attacked Israel. Today we’re learning more about other targets near Gaza including several kibbutzim where Israelis were slaughtered by terrorists going house to house.

Kibbutzim are basically communal farms and there are thousands of them scattered around Israel. Kibbutz Kfar Aza is very close to the fence separating Gaza from the rest of Israel and was the site of a massacre by Hamas. The IDF has now retaken the area and showed a group of foreign journalists what happened there. One report coming from the scene is getting a lot of attention today. IDF forces say they have recovered the bodies of numerous people including babies who’d been beheaded.

i24NEWS Correspondent @Nicole_Zedek reports from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a quarter-mile from the Gaza border, and recounts the atrocities that were committed in the small community which remains an active scene as soldiers clear booby traps and recover the bodies of dozens of victims pic.twitter.com/J4ZfWZQYHp

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 10, 2023

In this clip, the same reporter says she’s been told the bodies of as many as 40 babies were removed from the scene.

Soldiers told me they believe 40 babies/children were killed. The exact death toll is still unknown as the military continues to go house to house and find more Israeli casualties. https://t.co/PEGSFXgb9x

— Nicole Zedeck (@Nicole_Zedek) October 10, 2023

There’s video of the IDF commander in question saying that Hamas cut the heads off women and children, though he doesn’t say how many.

“They chopped heads of children and women,” says David Ben Zion, Deputy Commandee of Unit 71 to our @Nicole_Zedek, while reporting from the massacre in Kfar Aza in southern Israel pic.twitter.com/IHSB0ywMbF

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 10, 2023

Because this claim of killing and beheading babies is so shocking and extreme, lots of people are reacting online. Ben Shapiro mentioned it in a video I posted earlier. Lots of other people are pointing to it as the lowest low Hamas could sink to.

Babies with their heads cut off.

This is unbearable. But don’t look away. https://t.co/EqcRGWy2IM

— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) October 10, 2023

But others are pushing back. For instance this LA Times journalist.

The only source for “Hamas beheaded babies” appears to be the Israeli military, which is widely known to spread lies and disinformation

Journalists, this is the fog of war. You’ll be seeing all sorts of claims. Don’t amplify unverified, sensational info https://t.co/7tiCNAj3j9

— Adam Elmahrek (@adamelmahrek) October 10, 2023

This particular reporter seems to be pretty biased toward Palestinians which might explain his reaction. But what exactly is so hard to believe here? We know these militants ambushed and murdered people of all ages in their homes. Surely there were some babies in some of those homes. What does he think happened to them? This photo comes from another kibbutz nearby.

The reality of evil is sickening. Look at it, understanding it, and fight it. This is a picture released by Israeli artist Tomer Peretz, from a crib in Kibbutz Be’eri. This is what Hamas did to babies. Children. pic.twitter.com/KgkB7CRFBj

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 10, 2023

Is there really a reason to think Hamas would draw a line as killing little kids as they went house to house murdering adults? How much skepticism is warranted here?

An Israel Defense Forces source provided FDD’s @LongWarJournal with a photograph of a child’s blood-soaked bed in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom following a Hamas-led attack on the home. pic.twitter.com/Q9mqbtAiWX

— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) October 10, 2023

There are other reporters who’ve reported the same information so it’s not just one outlet saying this.

Nic Robertson, live from a town that was attacked by Hamas. “There were so many murdered members of this Kibbutz. Men, women, children, hand bound, shot, executed, heads cut”. pic.twitter.com/HhSfvrsHYS

— נריה קראוס Neria Kraus (@NeriaKraus) October 10, 2023

The report below is in French but the translation reads:

That’s it, the information is out. It’s so macabre that no one wanted to reveal it until they had 100% confirmation.

Infants and children under 2 years old were beheaded by Hamas in the Kibbutz of Kfar Aza. It is a horror, a massacre.

For those asking for the source. They are multiple: Israeli army, internal intelligence service and atrocious images which reached me and which I was able to cross-check. But the best source remains this: courageous journalists from the foreign press who were able to see / agreed to see with their own eyes the bodies in Kfar Aza.

Ça y est l’information est sortie. C’est si macabre que personne ne voulait la donner avant d’avoir eu confirmation à 100%.

🔺 Des nourrissons, des enfants de moins de 2 ans ont été décapités par le Hamas dans le Kibboutz de Kfar Aza. C’est une horreur, un massacre.

Pour ceux… pic.twitter.com/aEyiLIJUlo

— ✦ Margot Haddad ✦ (@margothaddad) October 10, 2023

I do wonder about the people who are jumping in to defend the honor of Hamas as if that’s a thing that exists. The LA Times reporter wasn’t the only one.

update:https://t.co/VDQnQ2hZpi

— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) October 10, 2023

Ultimately, the truth does matter. So I guess this has to be verified by some authorities who received and examined the bodies. But it sounds to me like these soldiers are reacting to what they saw and they are shocked by it. In this case, it would be a relief to find out they were lying and know that nothing this awful happened. But, again, looking at what we already know for certain Hamas did during this attack, I’m not hopeful.

Update: Meant to include this tweet as well.

Now let the snivelling apologists for rape, murder and torture explain how this, too, was justified. https://t.co/8h7DLHKofD

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 10, 2023

Update: Now CBS is reporting this as well.

@CBSNews learned that Israel body recovery teams have discovered beheaded babies and children in kibbutzim in southern Israel

— Norah O’Donnell 🇺🇸 (@NorahODonnell) October 10, 2023

Update: And the BBC is reporting what is heard at the scene.

The Israeli army, caught off guard, took 12 hours to get to the kibbutz, said Davidi Ben Zion, the deputy commander of Unit 71, an experienced team of paratroopers who led the assault…

Mr Ben Zion said Hamas gunmen who killed families, including babies, were “just a jihad machine to kill everybody, [people] without weapons, without nothing, just normal citizens that want to take their breakfast and that’s all.”

Some of the victims, he said, were decapitated.

“They killed them and cut some of their heads, it’s a dreadful thing to see… and we must remember who is the enemy, and what our mission is, [for] justice where there is a right side and all the world needs to be behind us.”

Another officer pointed to a bloodied purple sleeping bag. A swollen toe poked out. He said the woman underneath had been killed and decapitated in her front garden. I did not ask the officer to move the sleeping bag to inspect her body. A few yards away was the blackened, swollen corpse of a dead Hamas gunman.

Anyway, it seems all of the major outlets got the same story from a named source and from other unnamed sources. But because no one inspected the body bags I guess some will continue to claim this is all made up. At this point it’s a big enough story that Israel should provide more specifics about the total death toll in this kibbutz, the number of babies and children killed and the number of people beheaded.