Beastliness of Hamas. "They showed pictures of murdered children"
The Israeli government has not yet issued an official statement confirming reports that during Saturday's Hamas attacks there were brutal atrocities. These included beheadings of children. This information was relayed to CNN by an anonymous Israeli official, who contradicted the previous words of the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli media.
"There have been instances when Hamas fighters have committed decapitations and other atrocities in the style of ISIS. However, we cannot confirm whether the victims were men or women, soldiers or civilians, adults or children," said an official who chose to remain anonymous.
During Thursday's speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu, accompanied by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, emphasized that Hamas was committing crimes of beheading people. However, he did not specify whether the victims of these acts were children.
What a cruelty. They talk about children being killed by fighters
The Prime Minister's office later published photos, which were described as "horrifying". The photographs showed murdered and burned infants, for which responsibility was attributed to Hamas.
Three photos depicted the bodies of two children, which had been burned to such an extent that they could not be recognized, as well as the bloody body of a third infant. These photographs had been shown to the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
They were beheading children? Terrifying reports
Accusations appeared in Israeli media on Tuesday that decapitations of children had allegedly occurred in Kfar Aza kibbutz. These pieces of information were subsequently disseminated in media all around the world.
The spokesperson for Prime Minister Netanyahu, Tal Heinrich, announced on Wednesday that babies and toddlers "whose heads had been cut off" were found in Kfar Aza.
The Israeli army in a statement to CNN referred to this situation as a "massacre", during which women, children, infants and elderly people were "brutally murdered in a manner typical of the Islamic State". According to the account of Anshel Pfeffer, which was published in "The Times", during the massacre in Kfar Aza, Hamas fighters were said to be "slitting the throats of infants".
"I've been (in politics) a long time, I never really thought I'd see... confirmed photos of terrorists beheading children" - said US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, although the American administration later clarified that neither Biden nor his staff had seen any photos, and the president was merely referring to comments from the media.
The Israeli army spokesman, Jonathan Conricus, stated that terrorists "probably" beheaded children in the Beeri kibbutz.
CNN reports that after visiting Kfar Aza and reviewing hundreds of hours of footage posted on the internet, their staff found nothing to confirm claims of beheading children.
