In a bid to counter criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Friday released new footage of terrorists killing a father in front of his two sons during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in the Strip.
“Out of respect for the family’s wishes, this video is not for broadcast or distribution inside Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The CCTV footage from the Taasa family home in Netiv Ha’asara, on Gaza’s northern border, shows 46-year-old father Gil rushing his two sons Koren, then 12, and Shay, then 8, out of the house and into an outdoor bomb shelter as terrorists pursue them.
One of the terrorists hurls a grenade into the shelter, and Gil is then seen falling to the ground at the shelter’s entrance after it goes off.
Koren and Shay — still in their underwear as the attack began at 6:29 a.m. — then walk out of the shelter at gunpoint back into the house, passing their father’s lifeless body. They are both bloodied from the grenade fragments.
The two boys are then are seen in the living room begging for help while writhing in pain. Unfazed, a terrorist comes inside and takes a beverage from the fridge.
Shay ultimately lost sight in one eye as a result of the attack. Their eldest brother, Or, was murdered separately at nearby Zikim Beach, where the 17-year-old had gone fishing that morning. A fourth brother, 15-year-old Zohar, was with the boys’ mother Sabine, Gil’s neighbor and ex-wife, at the time of the onslaught.
In a video statement on the release of the footage, Netanyahu, standing alongside Sabine Taasa, praised her for joining Israel’s public diplomacy efforts and approving the video for publication.
“Sabine’s courage shames these terrorist cowards. She and her children carry scars that I’m afraid will never heal, yet she stands tall with dignity, with strength,” said the premier.
“This film should break every decent heart that still beats. It should silence every lie that still circulates,” he said. “To the leaders who vilify Israel, I say, ‘Watch this film.’ To the terrorists of Hamas who vow to repeat the October 7 massacre again and again, I say, ‘We won’t let you do it.’ We’ll destroy Hamas. We’ll bring our hostages home because we remember October 7. And so should you.”
Taasa said in the statement: “When you have an enemy next to you, you cannot sleep [soundly] at night. You cannot know when he will attack. I’m here to show all of the world my story, to show the world the truth that October 7 happened in Israel.”
During the onslaught, Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, mostly civilians. Forty-eight hostages now remain in Gaza, at least 26 of whom are confirmed by the IDF to be dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 62,000 people, according to the Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry. The figure, which cannot be independently verified, does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Countries including allies of Israel have grown increasingly critical of the offensive in Gaza as the death toll there has swelled and the humanitarian crisis intensified, with a UN hunger monitor last week declaring famine in parts of the Strip.
Israel has denied that there is famine in Gaza, accused Hamas of looting deliveries of humanitarian aid to the Strip and blamed the terror group for civilian deaths there, saying it uses Gazans as human shields and embeds itself in civilian infrastructure including hospitals and schools.