U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Oct. 12 that the gruesome photos and videos that he has seen of Israeli victims of the surprise terrorist attack by Hamas showed “depravity in the worst imaginable way.”
Mr. Blinken is in Israel amid its conflict with Hamas—designated a terrorist group by the United States—which attacked the Jewish state beginning on Oct. 7 by firing hundreds of missiles and sending gunmen pouring across the barrier fence and rampaging through Israeli towns.
He said that the Israeli government showed him images of victims of Hamas’s attacks that were disturbing.
“It’s hard to find the right words. It’s beyond what anyone would ever want to imagine, much less actually see and, God forbid, experience,” he said at a press conference. “A baby, an infant, riddled with bullets. Soldiers beheaded. Young people burned alive in their cars or in their hideaway rooms.”
Mr. Blinken looked like he was at a loss for words.
“I could go on, but it’s simply depravity in the worst imaginable way,” he said. “It almost defies comprehension.”
Mr. Blinken remarked that the photos are reminiscent of the ISIS terror group’s brutality.
The top U.S. diplomat expressed that one can only imagine what those photos would mean if a loved one were in any of them.
“Maybe the best word for me is overwhelming,” he said.
The gruesome images have united Israel “in profound grief” and “resolve,” Mr. Blinken said, noting that the conflict “is a moment for moral clarity.”
“Images are worth a thousand words,” he said. “These images may be worth a million.”
In Washington, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby warned that may not be the end of the appalling images.
As of press time, the death toll from the conflict is 2,500 people, including 27 U.S. citizens. In response to the Hamas attacks, Israel has initiated a massive operation that has included striking Hamas targets in Gaza, which is controlled by the terrorist group.
On Oct. 11, President Joe Biden claimed that he had seen the disturbing images coming out of Israel of the victims of the Hamas attacks.
“I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children,” he said.
‘Barbarians,’ Not an Army
One of the stories surrounds Kibbutz Nirim, a communal settlement in Israel near the Gaza border.“Horrific stories. I’m full of them,” kibbutz resident Adele Raemer told The Epoch Times in a telephone conversation from the Israeli city of Eilat, to which she and her daughter’s family evacuated.
One man, hiding in his safe room and trying to hold the door closed to keep the terrorists out, was fatally shot through the door. Another man and his daughter were dragged out by terrorists and shot on the spot, according to Ms. Raemer.
A 75-year-old woman and her two adult sons were kidnapped.
“The terrorists used her phone and took pictures of her being abducted by a man with a rifle and sent it to her daughter. That’s how [the daughter] knew she was being abducted,” Ms. Raemer said.
“I'll tell you: They’re barbarians. This is not an army. Armies don’t act this way. These are barbarians. Their only aim is to conquer, destroy, and colonize.”
Most Israeli homes near frontiers have safe rooms now, but they don’t have locking doors so someone hurt inside during a rocket attack can be rescued.
“They are built to be safe against rockets, not infiltrators,” Ms. Raemer said.
“She gave them money, and they took things and left.
“Other houses, they went in, and they smashed things up. They stole whatever they could. They shot up cars. They slashed tires. Anything, just to destroy.”
