Israel alleged that Hamas, a Palestine-based group which has been designated a terrorist organisation by many countries, offered $10,000 and an apartment to its militants if they brought a hostage back to Gaza with them when they launched an unprecedented attack on Oct 7, The Jerusalem Post reported citing a video released by Israel.
During the attack, Hamas militants killed more than 1,400 people, as per the Israeli authorities, and took around 200 people as hostages, some of whom have now been released.
Israel’s security agency Shin Bet and the country’s police force shared the footage, which claims to feature several detained Hamas militants, who were being interrogated.
The video appears to show an unnamed Hamas militant who said that he was given orders to “kidnap as many as possible” during the attacks.
In the video, the man who was being interrogated said that Hamas offered property and money for each person captured. This was mentioned by a company commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades.
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Watch the video here:
As quoted by The Jerusalem Post, one person said in the video: “The instructions were to kidnap women and children”. Meanwhile, another described an encounter with a dead body, saying: “Her body was lying on the floor. I shot her, and my commander yelled at me for wasting bullets on a dead body.”
They said that they were asked not to distinguish between civilians and soldiers, making it clear that when it came to murder, they were not to distinguish between the two.
“When we finished, we burned two houses,” said another Hamas militant.
“Two [terrorists] went into the house … we heard voices inside. Another two came in. There was one lying on the floor next to the door. I don’t know if he was dead, but there was blood next to him. Inside there was one wounded man… I think a whole family. In their pyjamas. The wounded man was in his underwear. A woman came out wearing a dress… then another with a dress. [Then] a boy and a girl,” one of the militants described entering a house after his comrades went inside.
“We went to the next house. From there, they took out a woman. An old woman,” he added.
On being asked if family members were used as human shields, the Hamas militants answered “Yes”.
One of the terrorists, who was at Be’eri, told interrogators: “When I entered the town, I saw two [terrorists] on a motorbike. They took a woman about 60-65 years old [with them] on the motorbike.”
He said that they took the woman to Gaza when the interrogator asked about her.
(With inputs from agencies)
Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.
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