A senior U.S. diplomat broke into tears describing the violence perpetrated by Hamas in southern Israel.

Stephanie Hallett, charge d’affairs of the U.S. Embassy in Israel, said in a social media post Wednesday that she visited the horrible scenes near Gaza to document the acts perpetrated by the Palestinian terrorists last weekend.

“We’ve come down here along the Gaza periphery to bear witness to the atrocities that were committed here on Saturday,” she said, choking up in a video on X. “It’s really unbelievable. As a mother, and just as a human being, to see and to know what happened here is really important to say that we’ve been here. We’ve seen it, and it is evil. And we stand with Israel … all of us, we stand with Israel.”

She was accompanied by Navy Capt. Frank Schlereth, a senior defense official at the embassy.

• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.