October 7 | Al Jazeera Investigations

Al Jazeera Investigations analyzes the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, uncovering misinformation, war crimes, and regional political impacts.

Key Takeaways

Misinformation and disinformation have been used by various parties to influence public perception.
The October 7 attack was a strategic surprise facilitated by intelligence failures on the Israeli side.
War crimes were committed by both Hamas and Israeli forces during and after the attack.
The conflict’s human toll is immense, with thousands of casualties on both sides, including many civilians and children.
The attack has reshaped political dynamics and hardened positions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

What the video covers

On October 7, 2023, Hamas gunmen breached the Gaza-Israel barrier, killing over 1,000 Israelis and foreign nationals.
The assault led to a massive Israeli military response killing at least 31,000 Palestinians, including 13,000 children.
Al Jazeera's forensic investigation reviewed footage, survivor testimonies, and victim lists to assess the events.
The investigation found widespread war crimes but also debunked many horrific stories as misinformation or disinformation.
Some victims were killed by Israeli forces, complicating the narrative of the conflict.
The video explores the historical and political context of Gaza, including the blockade and the role of Hamas.
Hamas planned the attack in secrecy, with only a few leaders aware until minutes before it began.
Israeli intelligence misread the threat despite warnings, leading to a surprise attack involving multiple tactics.
The attack overwhelmed Israel’s defenses with coordinated breaches, rocket fire, and unconventional methods.
The events of October 7 have significantly altered regional politics and perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Chapters

What was the main finding of Al Jazeera's investigation into the October 7 attack?

The investigation found widespread war crimes committed during the attack but also revealed that many horrific stories were misinformation or disinformation used to justify retaliatory actions.

How did Israeli intelligence respond to warnings before the attack?

Despite repeated warnings from intelligence officials, Israeli leadership dismissed the threat, leading to a surprise attack that overwhelmed their defenses.

What impact did the October 7 attack have on the region?

The attack significantly changed regional politics, sending a strong message and hardening attitudes in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with long-term consequences for both sides.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

[Music] [Music] October 7, 2023. At 12:00, Hamas gunmen cut through the barrier separating the Gaza Strip from Israel. They overran army bases and killed more than 1,000 Israelis and foreign nationals. They took dozens of children, bound them up, burned them, and executed them.

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A family of four around the breakfast table: the father had his eye gouged out, the mother's breast was cut off, the girl's foot amputated, the boy's fingers cut off before they were executed. These accounts were used to justify an assault on Gaza that has killed at least 31,000 Palestinians, 13,000 of them children. Finish them, finish them. Don't ever forget what happened. Alzer's investigative unit has carried out a forensic analysis of the events of October 7. The unit examined seven hours of footage, much of it taken from the head cams of dead Hamas fighters. It reviewed the testimonies of hundreds of survivors and compiled a comprehensive list of victims. It found widespread war crimes but discovered that many of the most horrific stories were untrue. Misinformation has been used, and sometimes deliberate disinformation has been used by official spokespersons.

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I'm sorry to be graphic here, but I can't see a baby here. If you can activate people's sense of disgust, they're more likely to support dire retribution against Palestinians. It reveals some of the victims were killed by Israeli forces. This footage I find very disturbing. We don't know who those individuals are: gunmen, civilians, or hostages. And it finds that October 7 may have changed the politics of the region forever. I regret to say that I think it was a phenomenal success from their point of view. October 7th has sent a very strong and clear message. No one can bypass the

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[Music] Palestinians in Palestine. There exist many thriving communities built by refugees who have already found a home there. The Israeli settlements known as kibbutzim that surround the Gaza Strip were built around the time of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The immediate area around Gaza is mostly small villages, kibbutzim in the early years at least. Kibbutzim and other villages had a defense role, and the idea was wherever you establish the kibbutz like this, I mean, that would determine Israel's border, that would hold the

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[Music] border. Today, the kibbutzim are prosperous farming communities. [Music] [Music] The kibbutzim are just a few kilometers away from Gaza, where 2.3 million people live crammed in a thin strip of land 41 km long. Most are from families that once owned land on the other side of the fence. Seventy percent of the population in Gaza are refugees, and every day they go to the fence and they would see their lands, their homes, and lands beyond this fence.

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And these lands belong to the Palestinians. It belonged to the Palestinians. They have lived there for millennia. Hamas is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement. It controls Gaza after winning elections that took place throughout Palestine in 2006. Hamas advocates armed resistance to Israel's occupation. Its policies and actions have resulted in its being designated a terrorist organization by many Western countries. Gaza has been under blockade since 2007. You could never imagine life in Gaza except if you have lived in Gaza and if you have experienced life in Gaza, especially when you are a child. All of the vivid memories I have of my time back then are funerals of martyrs, bombs, F-16s, tanks invading our homes, tanks invading our city. These are my

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[Music] memories. When you are in Gaza, you would always feel a sense that you are imprisoned. It's really a prison. In 2018 and 2019, Gaza staged mass demonstrations demanding the right to return to the lands they once owned across the fence. The Palestinians felt let down. They felt deserted, and they needed to remind the world that they were still there. They were still hoping to return to their homelands. The Israelis responded with force. Their snipers targeted many young men, including journalists and medics. Hundreds of Palestinians were assassinated or were murdered in this

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[Music] way. I was a journalist back in Gaza, and I was there covering the March of Return, and I have seen the horrors. I saw a kid getting a bullet in his head. He was still carrying his school bag. Israel says the killings are justified because the demonstrators pose a security threat. To the south of the country during the Great March of Return, we went peacefully in thousands, but what was the response of the international community? Nothing. Keeping their ears and eyes always closed. Within this context, we have discussed many times in many sessions what can we do. Generally, there was a consensus in the

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political bureau: we have to move, we have to take action. If we don't do it, Palestine will be forgotten totally and deleted from the international map. We have said it many times: the situation in Gaza is near to

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explode, and if it will happen, we will never allow it to explode inside the cities. We will direct it to the eastern borders of Gaza Strip, to those who are oppressing and besieging and jailing our people for months. Hamas trains openly for the

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incursion, placing videos online. The Israelis even obtained a detailed copy of the invasion plan. Like all great strategic surprises, it was misread. This is never the lack of intelligence information that leads to an intelligence failure. It's usually the

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broken intelligence cycle. There was a woman in the primary intelligence collection agency who was responsible for intelligence regarding Hamas who raised the flag repeatedly, and she got as high up as one could get: the chief of military intelligence. And he listened to her very

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carefully and said, "Yeah, I don't buy it. They don't have the capability. They have cheated themselves by the perception. Gaza is deterred. Gaza and Hamas is thinking how to solve their own internal problems, how to get some more money, how to get more

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jobs, how to open the borders, how to deal with the siege. Hamas has no time and no ability and no capability to do anything against

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[Music] Israel."

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[Music] Invitation: Hamas warriors receive instructions to gather at assembly points. Only then are they given details

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of the attack. None of the fighters have an idea about this operation up to minutes before the operation. It was so close, and very few, few members of the military leadership and maybe one or two from the political bureau who

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were aware of the operation. By now, reports of unusual movements on the Gaza side of the fence reach military intelligence and Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service. In the early hours of the morning, there's already pretty good information that

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something is happening, to the point that the head of the Shin Bet and, I think, shortly after, the chief of staff all arrive in their offices 2 or 3 in the morning, and it is again written off probably as being just another

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exercise, and the decision is to come back in the morning and take a look at it again. Of course, between those hours and then the attack at 6:30 a.m. was too late. Hamas fighters storm the main crossing point at

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Arz al-Ahar. It's one of at least 10 breaches in the fence. Thousands of rockets are fired into Israel. Paragliders cross the fence. Hamas uses boats to attack targets north of the Gaza Strip. What is impressive about it is

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that there were a lot of synchronized things that needed to happen for it to succeed. Some very low-tech features up against, you know, probably the most high-tech sort of military machine anywhere out

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[Music] there. Simple drones, not even particularly sophisticated ones, took out radar, the sensors that were placed on top of all sorts of towers, took out communications nodes that were placed along the border so that in effect they blinded the southern command

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from the

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[Music] get-go. Israel's first line of defense is overwhelmed.

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[Music] Hamas move on to attack military bases throughout the region. Among them is a base at Paga, a few hundred meters from the

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[Music] fence.

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[Music] Chris Cobb-Smith is a human rights

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investigator who served 20 years in the British military. He

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arz allahar it's one of at least 10 breaches in the fence thousands of rockets are fired into Israel paragliders cross the fence Hamas uses boats to attack targets north of the Gaza Strip what is impressive about it is

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that there were a lot of synchronized things that needed to happen for it to succeed some very low Tech features up against you know probably the most high tech sort of military machine anywhere out [Music] there simple drones not even

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particularly sophisticated ones took out a out of the radar the sensors that were placed on top of all sorts of towers took out Communications nodes that were placed along the border so that in effect they blinded the southern command

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from the [Music] get-go Israel's first line of defense is overwhelmed [Music] Hamas move on to attack military bases throughout the region among them is a base at paga a few hundred M from the [Music] fence [Music] Chris cob Smith is a human rights

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investigator who served 20 years in the British military he analyzed video of The Assault on paga this is clearly a significant sized Israeli Defense Force Base and how they've actually managed to get through the perimeter and to take

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by surprise this number of Israeli Defense Force soldiers is just staggering I just failed to see how this can be allowed to have happened I mean you can see here from the the number of armored vehicles that are around which don't seem to have been

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started up just incredible have the situation ever occurred for military briefing documents are found on dead Hamas [Music] Fighters they are giving written advice on what type of anti-tank rockets and missiles to use against the noova tank this one is about armored personnel

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carriers apcs so what type of IEDs you can use against armored personal carriers infantry fighting vehicles and armored fighting Vehicles so yeah very sophisticated again very slick as reports of the attack begin to come through Hamas leaders outside of

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Gaza gathered to [Music] pray but the leadership was as surprised as anyone by the Swift collapse of the Israeli military anyone who have watched this were surprised I myself I was totally surprised how can this happen Hamas people that have shared

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their experience of what happened on 7th of October with people I've spoken to suggested they expected a far higher casualty rate uh and expected that maybe 80 90% of those who set out on the 7th of October would actually die as Marts

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before they return back with hostages into Gaza City the opposite actually happened exactly diametrically opposed nearly in terms of only 10 to 15% of those Fighters were killed before they made it into Israeli settlements the resistance was so underwhelming from a Hamas point

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of view that they had absolute freedom to maneuver Hamas find themselves with the towns and kibot Sim at their Mercy just 5 km from the fence thousands of young people are gathered for a music [Music] festival based on my information they

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were not aware that there is a musical festival in the area there was a surprise they were finding hundreds of youngsters celebrating through the whole night in the early morning still being up out in a music festival [Applause]

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[Music] stop stop hundreds of unarmed party goers are killed some take refuge in the small bomb shelters that dot the main Highway they are trapped spe [Music] for one [Music] one [Music] gunmen quickly penetrate civilian communities but their unexpected success exposes the

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limitations of Hamas as a military force once the gunmen get access to the kbot they really don't seem to know exactly what they're doing where they're going or what they want to achieve they're wandering aimlessly they're shouting to each other they're arguing

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with each other from the footage here looks like the soldiers clearly come under effective enemy fire they're not doing anything about it yeah this is complete chaos their first priority seems to be taking the ammunition and the weapons off their own

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wounded there's no attempt of any sort of first aid there's certainly not anything like one would term command and control there's no leaders there [Music] hundreds of unarmed kibitz residents are killed Hamas seizes large numbers of hostages [Applause]

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as word spreads of gaps in the fence hundreds of gens pour through many people were able to leave the Gaza Strip including those people weren't even part of the operation civilians Smugglers criminals who thought they could make quick Buck

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themselves people would go through and just do their own thing there is a wave of looting a lot of people simple ordinary people came from Gaza into the kibois and into the area thousands entered this area and therefore a lot of what

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happened it was not you if right or wrong I mean it was not happened only by the fighters many of those abducted appear to have been taken by gazen civilians rather than Hamas [Music] Fighters at kibuts near was a group of

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thae laborers is caught up in the [Music] chaos Wun is dragged past the room where his Thai colleagues have been [Music] murdered he is placed on a motorbike and joins a trail of people heading back towards the Gaza Strip carrying Loot and

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hostages the Israelis mobilize helicopter gunships Hamas Fighters try unsuccessfully to shoot them down the Israelis later release footage of dozens of stri on Israeli television Pilots admit it was difficult to distinguish gunmen from Israeli civilians without guidance Pilots say they join

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local WhatsApp groups to identify targets the idea that Pilots have to get information from WhatsApp groups is truly remarkable it's a sign of the initiative that people looking for any way that they can get the information at the same time this is an

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outrage I mean what kind of a way is that to fight a modern war [Music] the israelian newspaper yot arut says that at midday the Army issues a version of what is known as the Hannibal directive the Hannibal directive is the

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result of previous humiliations where Israel handed over hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in return for the release of one Israeli [Applause] soldier on October 7 it seems the Hannibal directive may have been revived and applied even to civilian hostages the Air Force operated during

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those hours under an instruction to prevent movement from Gaza into Israel and return from Israel into Gaza 70 Vehicles were hit at least in some of the cases everyone in the vehicle was killed the Israeli military does not

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deny the report Israeli First Responders released footage of civilians burned in a car the car was struck from above well to me it was inexcusable for a helicopter or any weapon system to be engaging any Target if you don't know

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what that Target is the footage we're looking at here which I find very disturbing we have a lot of people here making their way back through the breach and the wire back into Gaza now my concern is with this footage we cannot

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tell whether they're Hamas gunmen or civilians or possibly hostages and I don't believe the helicopter pilot or the machine gun operator will be able to tell Israel's Channel 12 later interviews a kabut resident who was abducted she describes coming under Fire

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from a [Music] helicopter this footage shows the aftermath of what appears to be a similar helicopter strike there were nine hostages in the vehicle described in the Israeli TV report one was killed the other eight including three children

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survived the hostages are later filmed being taken to Gaza in a second vehicle even if you just use the belt-fed gun on the Apache these big rounds have a certain area effect and obviously come at a certain rate that if you shoot at a

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group of people you're most likely going to kill everyone you are knowingly putting your own civilians at risk I find it very disturbing using these sort of weapons in an environment where you can't distinguish and differentiate enough between who's friend and who fo who's a

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civilian who's a combatant analysis of the I unit's list of the Dead reveals 27 hostages who died somewhere between their home and the Gaza fence in circumstances that have not been explained Israeli Security Forces AR at the site of the Music

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[Music] [Music] [Music] Festival [Music] no police and army units storm kibot seim it seems that they too may have applied a version of the Hannibal directive and killed civilians Barry is the largest kibuts in the region Israeli media reveals that 12 die there

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when police and army open fire on a house that contains hostages Israel's Channel 12 speaks to two [Music] survivors this story has been ignored by Western media many other buildings show similar damage to the house at Berry all the footage I've seen of the

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Hamas assault across the border across the fence into the kabut they're pretty much only armed with light weapons this is RPGs so rocket propell grenades and personal sidearms this is taken from the inside of a house two holes in the wall here I

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would say probably by some sort of heavy weapon fired against the house most probably a tank there's no way an RPG and a would make that sort of damage in this image here catastrophic structural damage to the building clearly not

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caused by a structural collapse from a fire this was caused by some sort of heavy weapon system during combat there catastrophic structural damage to many of these buildings this can only have happened by heavy weapon systems being used against the Kutz

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itself the IE unit calculates the 1,154 Israelis and foreign Nationals are killed on October 7 and in the days immediately afterwards of these 256 Are Soldiers 53 belong to the police and other security forces and 63 are civilian security

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guards the remaining 782 victims are unarmed the I units list of the Dead revealed that at least 18 are killed by Israeli ground troops a number of other bodies are recovered from beneath Rubble who died in circumstances that are

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unclear in the days following October 7 journalists are shown around the kibot Sim by the Israeli Army this is something that monsters do not humans Hamas Fighters and others committed crimes on October 7 the Israeli media however focuses not on the

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crimes they committed but on crimes they did not I'm talking to some of the soldiers and they say what they've witnessed as they've been walking through these different houses these different communities uh babies their heads cut off that's what they said no

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one could expect that it would be like this the horrors that I'm hearing from these these soldiers uh as I as I mentioned earlier about 40 babies at least were were taken out on gurns the I units list of the Dead shows

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no babies were killed in kafar AA the kibot this report came from the story was nevertheless picked up by International media and repeated by President Biden I've been doing this a long time I never really thought that I would

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see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children the White House later clarifies that actually the president had not seen pictures of beheaded children a senior Israeli military officer later speaks to journalist in front of a burnt out house in kibuts

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Berry it's the house where 12 hostages appear to have been killed during the assault by the Israeli police and army inside this this uh this house were another 15 burned people among them eight babies in this corner there were

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concentrated them and they uh killed them and they burned them did you see I evacuated the list of the Dead shows that there were no babies in the house and Colonel vak does not tell journalists that the casualties are

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almost certainly caused by Israeli forces 2 Days Later the regional head of zacha a voluntary organization charged with collecting bodies gives a different account to Sky News of what happened at the same house and you're talking children two piles of 10 children each

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were tied to the back burned to death W this is something behind this is next level and I mean it's actually Indescribable really it's Indescribable really it's Indescribable and I won't describe everything that I saw this account is repeated by Israeli

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a conversation with President Biden they they took dozens of children bound them up burned them and executed them the list of the Dead shows two 12-year-old twins are killed when police and army stormed the house in Barry but there are

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no other children it was a an interview we did with Sky Television from Britain two piles we found them in Berry two piles of 10 children each were tied back to back and burned to death now again I

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mean if we if we look at the the death figures at there there are only 10 children that died at Betty not children it's but it's 18y old uh so we all together when you look at them and they're burned you don't know

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exactly the ages so you're talking about 18y old 20 years old and uh you can't you can't you just don't look on the spot um identification to see the ages or or something like that it is not the only questionable

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story that Yosi landow tells about kibot Barry we go further then we see a woman she was lying on the floor a puddle of blood big puddle of blood she was a pregnant woman her stomach was butchered open the baby that was connected to the

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court was stabbed and she was shot in the back kibot Berry has denied this account the story of the pregnant woman reported by zacha is not relevant to Barry Yosi landal in assists he witnessed this scene at Barry if you want to see the

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picture I have the picture of it are you able to share the photographic evidence with us to show you yes where's my phone sorry I will I will not put it in front of the camera that's fine I'll I'll come

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and look this is the knife they used shot killed but over the H was the that the imagery after the bodies had been cleared away yes this is the baby this is it I'm sorry to be graphic here but I I can't see a baby here you

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can't see the baby because but this is the picture of the of the mother okay for sure you know we didn't think when we over there we didn't think to to to camer everything we didn't have that this wasn't in

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our okay all right the photo shows an unidentifiable piece of charred flesh the list of the Dead contains no victim that fits Yosi landow's description on October 7th two babies die one is killed when a bullet is fired

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through a door the other dies following an emergency cesarian after the mother is shot neither is burned or beheaded you being someone who with your own hands with your own eyes with your nose you smelled this what would you say

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to to that person who who is downplaying what took place here I wouldn't say anything I would ask please give me I he should be together with the Hamas terrorist and he should be killed because he's a part of

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it visiting celebrities contined to be shown baby cribs and the world continues to be told stories about murdered babies when you're taking babies cutting them and tying them together and burning them to death you're treating them less than an animal 1300 people dead murdered

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babies these bastards put these babies in an oven and put on the oven we found the kid a few hours later US Secretary of State Anthony blinkin describes the fate of two small children family of four a young boy and

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girl 6 and 8 years old and their parents Around The Breakfast Table the father his eye gouged out in front of his kids the mother's breast cut off the girl's foot amputated the boy's fingers cut off before they were executed and then their

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executioners sat down and had a meal that's what this Society is dealing with this story also comes from Yosi landow and zacha an analysis of the evidence suggests that it is also untrue of the 782 unarmed victims of

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October 7 36 are children 13 under the age of 12 none died in the circumstances described by Anthony blinkin media analyst Mark Owen Jones tracks the spread of such stories on the internet he believes they serve a purpose so how as Israel do you create a

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balance in in sort of saying well what we're doing is morally right even though we're killing way more people well you have to emphasize the brutality because you can't say well they we've we've killed less than Hamas so how do you do

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it well you try to make the significance of those individual deaths even more disgusting and objectionable if you can activate people's sense of disgust I think they're more likely to support for example dire retribution against Palestinians in December Benjamin

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Netanyahu meets with zacha volunteers and thanks them for speaking to the world's press it's not just stories of murdered babies and children that are open to question are Israel's Head of forensics describes to Sky News the state of adult corpses

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he's examed So Many Bodies were shot but before they were shot they were cuffed so it's execution style you can see stab wounds here uh at the back and on the head and if you do CT you can see that the pelvis

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is shuttered these are bullets inside so he was shot he was stabbed he was burned and then he was run over the Israelis say they recovered numerous bodies mutilated by Hamas Fighters and others but the evidence suggests some at least

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may not be Israelis in the aftermath of October 7 large numbers of videos of the abuse and mutilation of Palestinian corpses are posted online the Israeli government later admits that of the bodies initially identified as Israelis were in fact

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[Music] Palestinians we originally said in the atrocious uh Hamas attack on our people on October 7th we had the number at 1,400 casualties and now we've revised that down to 1,200 because we understood that we had overestimated we we made a

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mistake there were actually bodies that were so badly burnt we thought they were ours in the end apparently they were Kamas terrorists there's a lot of evidence out there that's been produced by the Israelis which is e either contradictory or

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potentially self Haring if people were saying oh actually we we went through the different bodies and we realized some of the burned bodies were actually Palestinians and they weren't uh they weren't our civilians that begs the question why were they burned and who

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burned them how were they mutilated and who mutilated them a proper forensic investigation would have to have to clarify who killed them and and how they were killed to me to Israel also alleges that Hamas is guilty of widespread and systematic rape the

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Israeli government has published a video attacking the UN and other Global institutions for what it claims is in action and indifference to the plight of Israeli women I'd like to report a crime yes I was raped so sorry

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um we are here to help tell us what happened I was a music Music Festival we heard gunfire and everyone was running I started running and then he grabbed me he yelled something in Arabic and then he ripped my sorry to interrupt you

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you said he was yelling in Arabic yes meline Reese is head of an international women's rights organization don't take it personally management decided that all violence against Israeli is is legitimate resistance so sorry it's a very cheap shot immediately upon uh the the

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horrific attacks on October the 7th um there was a response from the UN from the commission of inquiry which already exists to look into atrocities in the region to say we want to come and investigate we are ready we're willing

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we're able to come and investigate um and that was blocked that was blocked and that's been blocked by Israel Hamas denies that rapes occurred on October 7th in no case there was a proof that there was a rap in no one

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case but I am sure based on our culture based on our beliefs that this cannot happen impossible to happen but there are those who say they witnessed women being raped one is a Survivor from the music festival who says he saw a group of

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Palestinian civilians surrounding a woman [Music] for the Israeli police presents an anonymous witness who described a separate rape also at the Music Festival in another interview this witness says she saw a total of five women raped and gunmen walking around with the severed

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heads of three women but no forensic evidence of sexual violence has been produced a website created by the Israeli government to document atrocities on October 7 contains just one video indicative of rape it features the body of a young

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woman lying by a roadside 14 km north of the site of the music festival she is wearing no underwear in December this story formed the centerpiece of a New York Times investigation but the report was undermined when the woman's sister

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posted on Instagram that it was untrue yes they raped but in the case of my sister no the family denied that she' hadd been raped they said it would have been really difficult for her to have been raped because she was in contact with

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them during hamas's attack and that her last correspondence with them was probably about 4 minute before she was reportedly killed right and so they sort of say how could she have been you know shot burnt and raped within the space of 4 minutes

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it didn't make sense one of the three offers of the report anat Schwartz is a former Israeli intelligence official with little journalistic experience she has previously liked genocidal social media posts calling for Gaza to be turned into a slaughter

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house I believe that there was rap in every conflict Whenever there are men with guns intent on perpetrating violence it is highly unlikely there will not be sexual vience but nothing that I've seen put forward so far suggests that it was widespread

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and systematic it's a very high bar to actually reach to show that it was widespread and systematic that would have a lot more evidence than has come to light to date and a lot more corroborative evidence than what has been put out

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there 5 months after October 7 a report by the UN special representative on sexual violence and conflict concluded their work were reasonable grounds to believe that conflict related sexual violence occurred the author stressed her report was not investigative she urged the Israelis to

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permit a fully fledged investigative process and to Grant without further delay access to the international Commission of inquiry which is mandated to investigate human rights abuses in Israel and the occupied territories Israel still refuses to do so the UN report relied largely on

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Israeli officials and First Responders it stated the Visual Evidence provided no tangible indications of rape a conclusion supported by the I unit's own analysis of footage and photographs in January the Israeli police said they were struggling to match witness accounts with known

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victims the policewoman leading the inquiry told the Israeli newspaper haritz at this stage I have no specific bodies without any credible investigation an independent credible investigation I don't think we can possibly say it was widespread and systematic essentially what we've got is

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a state has instrumentalized the horrific attacks on women in order we believe to justify an attack on Gaza of which the majority suffering are other women in response to the events of October 7 Israel launches a bombardment of the Gaza

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[Applause] [Music] Strip in October the 7th the first thing I remember is that I was terrified I was terrified because I know the Israeli response to that whenever an Israeli man killed they're going to kill 100 or 200

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Palestinians so when I heard that the number of Israeli killed is over a thousand people I knew that Israel will respond in a barbaric way 1,154 people people were killed on October 7 after 5 months of bombardment around 31,000 are confirmed killed in

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Gaza 27% are adult men 29% adult women and 44% children there are many hundreds of babies among the Dead the destruction of health services in Gaza means many of the Dead are uncounted and the real death toll is

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likely to be far higher repeatedly accounts of rape and the murder of babies by Hamas have been used to justify Israel's [Music] actions I hear the calls for a ceas fire tell me what what is a proportionate response for killing of

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babies for rape women and burn them for beheading of a child the proportional response to October 7 Massacre is a total Destruction a total Destruction to the last one of the Hamas killing slaughtering women children babies rapes uh beheading we're going to wipe

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them off the map wipe them off the face of the [Music] Earth this wasn't just rape this was flat out torture I don't think there's any way Israel can be expected to coexist or find some diplomatic off-ramp uh with the Savages first thing I said

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to Netanyahu when this happened was finish them finish them don't ever forget what [Music] happened sexual violence and other forms of violence being weaponized to dehumanize an enemy and dehumanization is important in Conflict why because dehumanization lows the threshold by

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which you will willingly agree to attack or harm another group of people and how do you do that well you see them as subhuman More than 70% of those whove died have been women and children 70% and we know more than 160

Speaker A

women a day have to give birth without adequate medical protection at all cesarians without any sort of anesthetic it's absolutely barbarous it was October 22nd and uh my family were sleeping in their home there was my father my older

Speaker A

brother his wife and his three children there was also my younger brother and there were my older sister waa and four of her children and there was my sister Al and her children and there was my sister a

Speaker A

and her three children and they were sleeping at uh 5 a.m. in the morning when Israel bombed my home and it and they were killed 21 of them were [Music] killed for the Hamas leadership the consequences of October 7 for the

Speaker A

Palestinian people appear to be a price worth paying for ending Israel's occupation October 7th has sent a very strong and clear message well defined message no one can bypass the Palestinians no one can enjoy stability or security as long as the Palestinians

Speaker A

don't or does not enjoy their own genuine rights of Independence self- sovereignity dignity and freedom I regret to say that I think it was a phenomenal success from their point of view they put the Palestinian issue back on the uh Regional and Global

Speaker A

agenda but the war is will end sooner or later already people are coming out of their homes and they're going to see what Gaza looks like today and it's not a pretty picture and part of this was necessary for operational reasons

Speaker A

and part of this was because I think isel's been trying to make the point that this can never happen again and beware that this is the price you will pay the price paid by the Palestinians is terrible that is true it's

Speaker A

Hefty but pinpoint to me one struggle for Liberation in which there was no costly price Vietnam how many millions perished in Vietnam in order for Vietnam to become free so you see there's no easy way there is no small price

Speaker A

for freedom and for Independence and the Palestinians do understand [Music] that they are revenging the only thing that they do is revenge and revenge against who against the Palestinian people the civilians the women the children there going to be a trauma that

Speaker A

the Palestinians will never heal from [Music] [Music] [Music] I

Topics:October 7 attackHamasGaza StripIsraelwar crimesintelligence failureblockadePalestinian refugeesAl Jazeera InvestigationsMiddle East conflict

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