At least four Israelis taken hostage by Hamas during their unprecedented incursion into Israel on Saturday were killed soon after being taken captive, according to videos reviewed by The Washington Post. Graphic video shared on Telegram on Sunday, and verified by The Post, shows multiple bodies in the street in Be’eri, a kibbutz in southern Israel, just yards from where Hamas militants were filmed walking with several civilians who appear to be those same hostages.
Initial video of the hostages, which was filmed roughly an hour and a half after the attack began, was among the first pieces of visual evidence showing Hamas militants taking Israeli civilians captive.
In the video, the civilians appear to have their hands tied behind their backs and are being led by men in military clothing carrying AR-style weapons down a residential street. Some walk barefoot. Black smoke billows in the distance. The person filming shouts toward the group as they approach an intersection that is guarded by a gate, leading out of Be’eri toward Gaza.
At least four bodies are visible near that gate, in a second graphic video shared on Telegram on Sunday, which was independently verified by The Post and first geolocated by Rollo Collins and Benjamin den Braber of the Center for Information Resilience Center for Information Resilience. The Post was not able to immediately verify exactly when this video was filmed, though burned cars and smoke are visible in both videos.
The videos are extremely disturbing, and contain graphic material showing corpses.
The group of four bodies, which appear to be lifeless, have matching physical characteristics including hair and clothing to four of the civilians who appeared alive in the earlier video.
The two videos, which were filmed just feet from each other, are both along the same street, identifiable by burned cars, a distinctive curb and the same houses. At the end of the first, the hostages are alive. When the camera pans at the end of the second, they appear dead.
“Palestinian armed group’s apparent deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate attacks, and taking of civilians as hostages amount to war crimes under international humanitarian law,” Human Rights Watch wrote in a news release Monday, noting the laws of war apply to all parties involved in a conflict.
Samuel Oakford in New York City, Joyce Sohyun Lee in Washington and Imogen Piper in London contributed to this report.
