(11 Oct 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4457679
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Israel - 10 October 2023
1. Mid of Gaza border
HEADLINE: Israeli village near Gaza lies in ruin, filled with bodies
2. Soldier looks at border, broken fence
ANNOTATION: The Israeli military led a group of journalists, including an Associated Press reporter, on a tour of the village of Kfar Aza on Tuesday.
3. Soldiers and journalists standing between destroyed homes
4. Mid of motorcycle the military said was used by Hamas militants to cross the border
ANNOTATION: One day earlier, Israeli forces retook the village from what they said was a group of about 70 Hamas fighters.
5. Close of flag brought by the militants
6. Close of a ruined bandolier of bullets
7. Israeli soldiers carrying the body of a slain resident in a body bag
ANNOTATION: Bags held the bodies of slain residents, awaiting identification. An AP reporter saw the bodies of about 20 militants.
++SOUNDBITE #8 PARTLY COVERED++
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Major General Itai Veruv, leader of Israeli forces that cleared Kfar Aza:
"It's not a war. It's not a battlefield. You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms, and how the terrorist killed them. It's not a war, it's not a battlefield. It's a massacre. It's a terror activity. You can see by yourself you can see something I have never seen in my entire life."
9. Window of destroyed home
10. Debris from destroyed home on ground
11. Various Israeli soldiers walking around homes
++SOUNDBITE #12 PARTLY COVERED++
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Or Tsfati, Israeli Defense Forces:
"There is the security team, the combat soldiers, opening the houses, looking for another terrorist, maybe if there is. After that I am search and rescue unit and we're going to salvage what's left, unfortunately."
13. Various destroyed baby carriage on ground
++SOUNDBITE #14 PARTLY COVERED++
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Major Doron Spielman, Israel Defense Forces
"Who could do this? They must have shed their humanity and what is left is something inhuman. To see baby carriages wit bullet holes and blood? Who goes up to a baby and kills a baby? Who kills a mother? I see the bodies in their homes."
15. Damaged side of house
STORYLINE:
On the road approaching this rural village, the bodies of militants lie scattered between the shells of burned-out cars. Walls and doors of what used to be neatly kept stucco homes are blasted wide open. As bags holding the bodies of slain residents await identification, the smell of death hangs thick in the hot afternoon air.
This is the scene confronting Israel’s military as it battles to beat back a sweeping assault launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, in fighting that has killed hundreds in this country left reeling and the adjoining Palestinian enclave under heavy Israeli bombardment.
“You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers in their bedrooms and how the terrorists killed,” Maj. Gen. Itai Veruv, a 39-year veteran of the Israeli army who led forces that reclaimed the village from militants, said Tuesday as he stood amid the wreckage. “It’s not a battlefield. It’s a massacre.”
The Israeli military led a group of journalists, including an Associated Press reporter, on a tour of the village Tuesday, a day after retaking it from what they said was a group of about 70 Hamas fighters.
Walking through what is left provides chilling evidence of its destruction.
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