IDF hunting down Hamas militants seen on social media broadcasts: 'We will get to them'
IDF spokesperson Lt. Col Peter Lerner on the latest update from Israeli forces and efforts to rescue hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Thursday released photos that it said confirmed Hamas terrorists "murdered and burned" babies in Kfar Aza, in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip.
The images purport to show the bodies of two infants who were burned alive, with the third appearing to show a decapitated infant in a blood-splattered onesie. The photos appear to have been taken inside a medical facility.
"Here are some of the photos Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken," read a post by Netanyahu’s office on X, formerly Twitter. "Warning: These are horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters. Hamas is inhuman. Hamas is ISIS."
Blinken later told reporters in Israel that "we did see photographs, videos that the Israeli government shared with us" and that it's "hard to find the right words."
LIVE UPDATES: ISRAEL AT WAR WITH HAMAS
Members of the Israeli Defense Forces on Tuesday work to clear houses and organize bodies of civilians who were killed in an attack by Hamas militants in Kfar Aza, Israel, days earlier. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
"It's beyond what anyone would ever want to imagine, much less actually see and, God forbid, experience," Blinken said. "A baby, an infant riddled with bullets, soldiers beheaded, young people burned alive in their cars or in their hideaway rooms."
"I could go on, but it's simply depravity in the worst imaginable way. It almost defies comprehension. And as I've been saying to me in the most immediate future, harkens back to ISIS and some of the very things we saw when it was on its rampage that thankfully was stopped. So I think for any human being to see this, it's really beyond almost anything that we can comprehend, digest," he continued.
BLINKEN, IN ISRAEL, SAYS MORE AMERICANS KILLED, VOWS SOLIDARITY ‘ALWAYS’
Israeli tanks leave Kfar Aza in southern Israel after inspecting the area on the border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
"And I just add that when you see this, you try to imagine — maybe not try — can't help but imagine yourself, your family, your loved ones, your friends in that situation, in that predicament. And maybe the best word for it for me is 'overwhelming.' I think what it's done is, as I said, united a country in profound grief, but also united a country in resolve. And it's imperative that the rest of us share that resolve," Blinken concluded. "I said this earlier — this is a moment for moral clarity. This is a moment where everyone needs to make clear that there is revulsion, disgust and a determination not to allow this to go forward. So, images are worth a thousand words. These images may be worth a million."
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) came upon the horrific scene after Hamas terrorists infiltrated Kfar Aza and other communities in southern Israel on Saturday. The soldiers found about 200 dead, including 40 dead babies, some of whom they said were decapitated, local Israeli media reported.
"It’s not a war, it’s not a battlefield. You see the babies, the mother, the father, in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms, and how the terrorists killed them," IDF Maj. Gen. Itai Veruv said in describing the scene, i24News reported.
An Israeli soldier inspects a destroyed house in Kfar Aza, Israel, on Tuesday. (Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
As of Thursday, more than 1,200 people have been reported killed in Israel from the conflict, which erupted on Saturday.
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.