Hamas commando: We head children crying. We shot at the door until we didn't hear noise anymore
(Video: Shin Bet)
The Shin Bet intelligence agency released Wednesday evening additional footage from the interrogations of terrorists captured following the Hamas terror attack on October 7. In the video, one of them testifies to his involvement in the horrendous massacre in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
More stories:
"The mission was simply to kill," he tells the interrogator in the clip. "We weren't supposed to kidnap, just kill... kill every person we see and come back."
Omar Abu Rusha, a member of Hamas's Nukhba commando unit, described how he and another Hamas operative entered a house in the small farming community through a window. Once inside, they heard the cries of children coming from a safe room. "We shot at the safe room… We shot at the door until we didn't hear noise anymore," he recounted the atrocities he had committed.
When asked whether the orders they received made a distinction between men, women and children, he replied negatively.
“They told us that all the settlers were soldiers, there were soldiers. Kill every single one you see.”
Interrogator: Even the women are soldiers?
Terrorist: Yes, they told me, soldiers.
Interrogator: They told you to kill everyone? The women and the children?
Terrorist: Yes.
The terrorist went on to describe the actions of both himself and the group of attackers who infiltrated Kfar Aza."We had a guide with us, not from our team, he had a motorcycle. We were inside the jeep. We got to Kfar Aza, to the cars. The one on the motorcycle, Mohammad Nahder Albesht, he opened the fence on the border of Kfar Aza using an explosive device. There were our people there, he opened the fence for them. After we left [Albesht], we continued."
"We went to the first house. We checked it, there was nothing there. Hamzeh A-Zarad burned the exterior room, set it on fire. Ok? Afterward, someone came out toward the garden in the back with a water hose. Abu Ahmad and Hamzeh saw him, shot him and killed him. That's the first thing that happened. Afterward, we went to the second house. We fired at the windows and broke all the glass. We got to the house, checked it, we didn't find any people inside. I set fire to the bedroom, I set it on fire. We went to the third house. There was a woman inside. Hamzeh killed her. He shot her. We didn’t go into the house."
In a statement released alongside the interrogation footage, the Shin Bet said that it will “hold accountable all the terrorists involved in the October 7 massacre." Last week, the Shin Bet released another segment from Abu Rusha’s interrogation in which he admits that Hamas operates underground facilities beneath the Shifa Hospital, Gaza's main hospital.
Abu Rusha’s testimony contradicts the claims made by Hamas leaders since the deadly terror attack. In interviews with both Arab and international media, they had suggested that the attack was not aimed at civilians. Their intent, of course, is to portray their terrorist organization in a more favorable light, especially after the horrors that were exposed and caused shockwaves around the world.
Abu Rusha's testimony stands in stark contrast to the narrative presented by Hamas leaders following the devastating terror attack. They have asserted in both Arab and international media that the attack wasn't targeted at civilians. However, their underlying goal is to paint their organization in a more positive light after the alarming events were revealed, garnering widespread global condemnation.
Meanwhile, Israel is actively working to expose these atrocities. One of the methods involves showcasing footage captured by the terrorists themselves using GoPro cameras. Through such efforts, Israel is drawing parallels between Hamas and ISIS.
In the video released by the Shin Bet, the detained terrorist, Abu Rusha, when asked about any distinction between Hamas and ISIS, responded, "In the things the interrogator showed me, there is no difference, in the things I was shown. I saw videos worse than ISIS.”
According to current estimates, around 3,000 Hamas terrorists entered the Western Negev from various points during the October 7th terror attack rather than the 1,500 to 2,000 initially estimated.
They successfully overwhelmed several IDF bases and communities in the border area, reaching as far as Sderot and Ofakim, where they brutally massacred residents, including children and infants.
Hamas abducted at least 245 people, including women, children and the elderly, to Gaza. To date, Hamas has released four of these hostages on its own accord. One hostage, an Israeli soldier taken captive during the Oct. 7 attack, was rescued by IDF forces in a daring operation within the Gaza Strip.