The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared photos purportedly showing the burnt remains of children who were killed in last week's terrorist attacks.
Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist groups launched an unprecedented, coordinated, and multifaceted attack last Saturday that has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, a vast majority of whom were civilians. The Israel Defense Forces said fewer than 200 soldiers were killed in the attack, meaning about 1,000 civilians were killed, though both tallies could continue to rise.
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The Israeli prime minister showed the photos his office posted online to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who traveled to Tel Aviv in support.
"These are horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters," Netanyahu's office said. "Hamas is inhuman. Hamas is ISIS."
Netanyahu and other Israeli and U.S. leaders have described Hamas as akin to the Islamic State due to the brutality of the attacks against civilians.
"Hamas is ISIS, and just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed, and Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated," Netanyahu said. "They should be spat out from the community of nations. No leader should meet with them. No country should harbor them. And those that do should be sanctioned."
Roughly 250 people were murdered at a concert, while the terrorists also went to communities near the Gaza border and proceeded to slaughter hundreds more, including women and children. In some of the small communities, known as kibbutzim, families were killed in their homes, while others were murdered while hiding in the bomb shelters that usually kept them safe from incoming rocket fire from terrorist groups within Gaza. The terrorists also took between 100-150 people hostage and brought them back to Gaza.
There have been contradictory reports on whether the terrorists beheaded children, though both U.S. and Israeli officials have condemned and confirmed other horrific acts. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he had seen beheading pictures, but the White House walked that back.
"Babies slaughtered, bodies desecrated, young people burned alive, women raped, parents executed in front of their children, children in front of their parents," Blinken said during his press conference with Netanyahu.
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The IDF engaged with terrorists to regain control over many of the kibbutzim near the Gaza border. Israeli authorities said they found the bodies of about 1,500 terrorists within Israel's borders.
Israel's military has begun an overwhelming aerial campaign against the terrorist groups in Gaza, though it is turning much of the tiny area that's home to more than 2 million people into rubble. Israel's strikes have resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 people, and more than 6,200 people have been injured, according to the latest updates from the Ministry of Health of Gaza.