After a tough struggle to clear militants, Israeli troopers discover a scene of destruction, slain kids

KIBBUTZ BE’ERI, Israel (AP) — Trudging down a cul-de-sac turned to rubble, an Israeli military commander stopped in entrance of 1 scorched dwelling, its entrance wall blown large open. Take a look at what Hamas militants have accomplished, he mentioned, to this close-knit group that solely days in the past brimmed with life.

“Youngsters in the identical room and somebody got here and killed all of them. Fifteen ladies and youngsters, they put (them) in the identical room, threw in a hand grenade and it’s over,” Main Gen. Itai Veruv mentioned.

’It is a bloodbath. It’s a pogrom,” he mentioned, recalling the brutal assaults on Jews in Japanese Europe within the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

The Israeli navy led a gaggle of journalists, together with an Related Press reporter, on a tour of this village just a few miles from Israel’s fortified border with Gaza on Wednesday, following an prolonged battle to retake it from militants. Earlier than Israeli forces prevailed, the attackers killed greater than 100 residents, Israeli officers mentioned.

Be’eri, a settlement of slightly greater than 1,000 individuals, is one in all greater than 20 cities and villages ambushed early Saturday as a part of a sweeping assault launched from the embattled Palestinian enclave.

Earlier than the assault, Be’eri – began by Zionist settlers two years earlier than the nation itself was based – was identified for its industriousness, together with a big printing plant that seems Israeli driver’s licenses. Now it has turn out to be a horrific image of the warfare with Hamas, which authorities say has up to now left about 1,200 lifeless in Israel and about 1,100 in Gaza.

Veruv, who had retired from the navy till he was recalled Saturday to steer forces combating to regain management of cities that had been attacked, mentioned Hamas fighters had taken up entrenched positions within the ruins, hiding in small teams earlier than stunning Israeli troopers as they went from home to deal with.

“Each time that we thought we cleaned the realm and every part was silent, out of the blue one other 12 or one other 20 bought out,” he mentioned.

Standing in entrance of the two-story stucco dwelling the place he mentioned militants killed youngsters with a grenade, he mentioned troopers had discovered the our bodies of different residents with their wrists tied collectively. Through the quick go to, a reporter noticed gaping holes smashed within the aspect of some houses and torched automobiles. Framed household photographs lay amid the ruins, together with a kids’s backpack.

Outdoors, gadgets introduced by the militants hinted at meticulous preparation. Prayer rugs and additional sneakers lay scattered on the bottom, not removed from a toothbrush, containers full of drugs and rifle magazines. A pair of Toyota pickups, one with a machine gun mount within the mattress, additionally stay.

By the point reporters had been introduced in slightly earlier than sundown Wednesday, rescue crews had eliminated the our bodies of a lot of the residents who had been killed. However the corpses of a number of militants remained and the odor of loss of life was overpowering.

“We’ll hit Gaza. We’ll hit Hamas. And we’ll destroy,” Veruv mentioned.

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Related Press author Adam Geller contributed to this story from New York.