Kfar Aza massacre

Kfar Aza massacre
On 7 October 2023, around 70 Hamas militants attacked Kfar Aza, a kibbutz about from the border with the Gaza Strip, massacring residents and abducting several hostages.
The kibbutz had 400 residents prior to the attack, and it took two days for the Israel Defense Forces to wrest back full control of the community. While the exact total of Israelis killed is yet unknown, as of 15 October, 52 are listed as dead, and a further 20 or more missing.
The attack is notable for claims of brutality in the form of beheadings, dismemberment, and victims having been burned alive. There has been controversy regarding unconfirmed claims by Israeli sources that babies were decapitated.
Massacre
About 70 Hamas gunmen broke through a fence and gained access to the kibbutz on the morning of 7 October 2023. After entering the kibbutz, which was from Gaza, the militants proceeded to massacre residents of the community. The Islamist militants began by targeting the west side of the community—an area in the kibbutz close to Gaza - where families with young children lived. Fifty two people at the kibbutz are known to have been killed.
Members of the kibbutz with military training, who formed a volunteer armed guard, fought against invading militants in an attempt to defend the community. All were killed. Hamas militants broadened the attack to all four directions. Invading militants burned houses and killed civilian residents. Corpses of those who had lived in the community were found with their hands tied.
In addition, the militants took hostages from the kibbutz. The Associated Press visually confirmed four hostages who were abducted on 7 October. The militants took women, children and senior citizens among the hostages back to Gaza.
Israeli Major General Itai Veruv described the massacre as a terror attack.
Prior to the massacre, the community had 400 residents. It took the Israel Defense Forces two and a half days to regain full control of the community after the initial attack. The paratroopers of Unit 71 led the assault to retake the community, and the Duvdevan Unit also responded to the attack.
Journalists were granted access to the site on 10 October 2023. Hamas has also released video footage of the attack.
Casualties
According to BBC News, it appears that most of the victims of the massacre died in the opening hours of the attack. , soldiers were still going through the community to recover bodies. According to one soldier present, several civilians had been beheaded. Other victims were dismembered or burned. Children and babies were reported to be among the killed.
Allegations of beheadings
One member of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who had responded to the site said in an interview with i24NEWS that 40 children had been killed, with some beheaded by Hamas. CBS News later interviewed Yossi Landau, regional head of the first responder organization ZAKA, who said that both babies and minors had been beheaded alongside corpses of dismembered adults. Landau later stated to Sky News that 80% of the bodies at Kfar Aza and at Be'eri showed signs of torture.
A claim that a number of babies were decapitated was also made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson, and the most high-profile claim was repeated by U.S. President Joe Biden, who claimed to have seen photographic evidence for it. The White House later denied Biden had seen photographic images, and clarified that he was referring to media reports and statements by Netanyahu.
The IDF stated to Insider that they would not investigate the allegation further, asserting that it would be "disrespectful for the dead" to do so. Netanyahu's office released photos of dead babies, saying they were killed and burned in the attack. The Jerusalem Post stated that these images confirmed that babies were decapitated, were shown to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and published by the Prime Minister's office on X (formerly Twitter), while NBC News stated that the claim could not be independently verified and that no photographic evidence that babies were decapitated was provided. CNN reported that claims of beheading could not be confirmed.
The claim that 40 babies had been decapitated gained widespread attention on social media, with over 40 million impressions on X (formerly Twitter), propagated by the Israeli website i24NEWS and the official Israel account. The claim made it to the front-page news on almost a dozen British newspapers. NBC News stated that the claim was likely erroneous, and based on the conflation of two separate statements made by IDF soldiers.
Survivors
Ziv Stahl, executive director of the human rights organization Yesh Din, survived the massacre and later, in an article for Haaretz, strongly opposed calls to exact revenge, arguing that,'Indiscriminate bombing in Gaza and the killing of civilians uninvolved with these horrible crimes are no solution.'
Another survivor, Avidor Schwartzman, described how he hid with his wife and one year-old daughter in their safe room for over 20 hours until their rescue by Israeli soldiers.
See also
Be'eri massacre
Re'im music festival massacre
List of massacres during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war
Outline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
Palestinian terrorism
Death and eulogy of Ro'i Rothberg
References
Massacres during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
Cross-border operations
Hamas attacks
Terrorist attacks attributed to Palestinian militant groups
21st-century mass murder in Israel
2023 mass shootings in Asia
Mass shootings in Israel
October 2023 events in Israel
Mass kidnappings of the 2020s
Massacres of Jews
Palestinian war crimes
Battles during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war