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The smell of carrion hung in the air on Wednesday in Kibbutz Beeri, a farming community near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip and the last to be liberated from Hamas gunmen this week. one of the communities.
About two dozen bodies in white plastic bags lay on the lawn. Two other people lay in the street next to the kindergarten, victims of the attack, where terrified residents hid in locked rooms and waited for rescue for more than 48 hours.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military opened Beeri to reporters for the first time, and a military official said soldiers found 110 bodies, including women and children.He said that only the bodies of the attackers were left; one of the bodies was wrapped in a white plastic bag with red letters spray-painted on it cable, Or terrorists.
Some of the homes on the kibbutz still had lights on, apparently untouched since the day of the attack, which Israelis now consider to be the largest massacre since the founding of the state in 1948. Officials say more than 1,200 people have been found dead in Israel, with new bodies being discovered every day as they try to account for missing people they fear have been abducted to Gaza.
The attackers who breached the Israeli enclave’s security barrier struck around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, which coincided with the Jewish Sabbath and holiday weekend, according to an Israeli military official.
“Hundreds of terrorists poured into the kibbutz from all directions,” said Maj. Gen. Itai Veruf. “I have served in all of Israel’s major operations and wars for almost 40 years; I have never seen anything like this.”
A burned-out house with scorched walls matched reports from Beeri’s surviving residents that they had been evacuated elsewhere, with some attackers setting fire to the house in an attempt to force those inside to come outdoors. Several residential buildings were severely damaged or reduced to rubble as tank operations rescued kibbutz residents, military officials said.
According to Israeli military officials, more than 100 Palestinians were killed during the operation to liberate the kibbutz. Even after the neighborhood was declared “clean” on Monday, wandering Palestinian attackers continued to show up hours later, Verouf said.
“When our grandfathers and grandmothers talked to us about the Holocaust in Europe in the past, we couldn’t imagine it,” Verouf said. “That’s why I welcome the war.”
Gaza Strip, Israelis call it “Gaza Strip” kibbutz The farming community next to the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave is now a closed military zone. The roar of Israeli shelling on Gaza was accompanied by regular warnings of incoming rockets, sending soldiers to the ground for cover.
Beeri was packed with soldiers on Wednesday night. On a nearby road, armored vehicles kicked up dust and cars turned on their high beams to find the way.
The kibbutz is located along the road from Re’im, the site of last weekend’s biggest mass atrocity, when about 250 people were massacred while attending an all-night outdoor party. Dozens of cars were abandoned in fields where they were parked, and coolers and other picnic paraphernalia were scattered along the roadside.
At a military base not far away in the Negev desert, thousands of cars were parked on the side of the road, evidence of the massive mobilization of the Israeli military for what most expected to be a protracted war. During the live-fire exercise, gunfire rang out.
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