Israel embassy releases chilling footage of Hamas attack

In a televised screening for Indian journalists on Wednesday, the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi held a screening that revealed horrific and chilling videos of October 7, the day when over 2,000 terrorists entered Israel from the Gaza Strip and carried out what is being considered the biggest terror attack against the Jewish nation.

The video showed body cam footage, mostly GoPro videos, cut together with clips from CCTV, dashboard cameras and the mobile phones of both Hamas gunmen and victims, which were sourced from Hamas's body cameras and victim's devices and social media.

In one of the footage's, a terrorist purportedly can be seen saying, 'Please open WhatsApp and look how many dead', imploring his parents repeatedly referring to pictures or video he had sent home showing the attack.

"Your son killed so many Jews," he added. "Mum, your son is a hero."

Some of the stark details depicting Hamas' brutality showed terrorists shooting a dog multiple times who crosses his path to going on a shooting spree, aiming at houses and even firing on the tyre of an ambulance.

The screenings by the Israeli side are expected to be shown in around 15 countries with Australia, and New York (US) already completed and the one in France expected on Thursday.

Before the screening, the Israeli ambassador to India, Naor Gilon said, "We went to sleep Friday night with Hamas as a neighbour and woke up the next day with ISIS as a neighbour."

In Israel, around 1,405 people have lost their lives, with about 5,400 injured and over 200 taken as hostages.

Five hostages have been released thus far, most of them following negotiations through diplomatic channels.

On Monday, the Israeli military said that it had rescued an Israeli soldier who was taken hostage from her army base on October 7.

Hamas earlier released four hostages: American Israeli mother and daughter on October 20 and two Israeli women three days later.

The Israeli embassy in New Delhi also has posters of Israeli citizens who were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists following the October 7 attack.

On October 7, more than 3,000 women, children and men, ranging from the age of nine months to 80 years were wounded, raped, murdered and beaten and brutally separated by their loved ones by the terror group Hamas.

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116 Israeli children orphaned by Hamas attack

The Hamas terror attack of October 7 has left 116 children from 59 families orphaned, according to data presented to the Knesset's Labor and Welfare Committee on Tuesday.

"The State of Israel has not faced such a situation since its establishment, neither in numbers nor in substance. There is no need to explain the importance of sensitivity when it comes to the treatment of those children. As a committee, we intend to accompany the responsible parties, to assist and be at their disposal for any need that comes their way," said committee chair M K Israel Eichler.

Rakefet Atzmon, who is in charge of the issue of orphans at the Ministry of Welfare, told the committee that according to the ministry's data, 20 children under the age of 18 from 12 different families had both of their parents killed, taken or hostage, or are missing.

Atzmon added that 96 children under the age of 18 from 47 families had one parent killed, taken hostage, or are missing.

She described the data as 'dynamic' and constantly being updated with information from the Home Front Command, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and National Insurance 'to get a complete picture'.

Asked how the orphans who lost both parents are being treated, Atzmon said that 'the perception and preference is that those who will take care of children who have lost both of their parents are first of all family members and this is the situation at the moment. Of these 12 families, the majority have already reached a legal agreement on who will take care of the children'.

She said for the remaining children, welfare services are still trying to reach an agreements for the children to be raised by relatives.

"If they fail, we will have to decide within our authority in the law," she said.

Yonatan Bogut, CEO of the Summit Institute urged lawmakers to quickly recognize all the orphans as foster children so they can begin receiving care.

The Jerusalem-based non-profit provides foster care services in Jerusalem and southern Israel.

"We need the children to be officially recognised as foster children as soon as possible so that we can give them the treatment they need," Bogut said.

"The time factor is critical for children who are going through trauma again, especially those of them who are still moving between houses and are in dire need of stability."