The bodies of 20 children have been found tied together and burned close to their kibbutz after being murdered by Hamas militants.
Volunteer recovery teams made the disturbing shortly after discovering a naked woman’s body bound in metal underneath rubble.
As more residents return home after being forced to flee the violence of Hamas militants, the grim reality of the assault against civilians is becoming clearer.
Rescuers said the children’s bodies were found just a few miles off Kibbutz Be’eri, near the easter border with Gaza.
Their claim appears to match an earlier report from a member of Zaka South, a volunteer emergency responders organization active between the Be’eri and Kfar Aza kibbutzim.
READ MORE: IDF has ‘green light’ to launch ground offense against Hamas
More and more tales of evil are emerging as Israel seeks to reclaim full control after the Hamas attack.
Commander Yossi Landau, from Zaka South, was among the first people to intervene once the militants finally retreated – and rejected claims that Israel had “exaggerated” reports of the atrocities as he shared details of the horrific scenes he witnessed.
He told i24news: “I saw a dead mother holding her dead baby, both killed with a single bullet that went through them.
“I saw 20 children shot and burned and piled together in two piles.”
Landau said he and a fellow volunteer later entered a home where they recovered the bodies of a family of four that had been set on fire.
He added: “In the living room we see two parents, mother and father, with hands tied behind their backs. Lying by their side were two small children, with their hands also tied behind their backs.
“They were all burned to death. The terrorists were sitting at the table and eating while they torched them to death.”
Hamas fighters launched simultaneous attacks on several kibbutzim in southern Israel and also targeted a busy music festival, either killing or taking hostages whose families have been begging the government to help recover them.
Lior Peri, whose half-brother Danny Darlington was killed and father Haim Peri kidnapped from Nir Oz, said communities are split between supporting the country’s focus on revenge and the families’ desire to have their loved ones return home.
Peri told the BBC: “Revenge is a very strong emotion, which a lot of people have now. But if they will hear us, hear the families, maybe they will reconsider.
“Maybe they will say: we will have time for revenge later on but before winning the war, let’s do whatever we can to get out of this hostage situation.”
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