Jerusalem
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Israel released a clip of the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Friday evening as it faces international condemnation over its imminent assault on Gaza City.
The video shows the attack on the home of the Taasa family in Netiv HaAsrara, a community just north of Gaza. The video was part of a roughly 45-minute compilation of clips from the terror attack that Israel showed to world leaders, diplomats, and journalists but did not release publicly.
In the video released on Friday, Sabine Taasa – whose husband and eldest son were killed on October 7 – stands next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he introduces the clip.
“We’ll destroy Hamas, we’ll bring our hostages home, because we remember October 7, and so should you,” Netanyahu implores in the pre-recorded segment. Though Netanyahu says the video has never been shown publicly, segments of it were released by Israel’s Channel 12 News in March 2024.
The video, recorded from security cameras, starts with Sabine Taasa’s husband, Gil, rushing two of his sons into the house’s bomb shelter in the backyard. A Hamas terrorist throws a grenade at the shelter, which explodes. A moment later, the body of Gil Taasa falls to the ground.
Dressed in their underwear, the two boys are then moved into the family’s kitchen, which is splattered with blood stains. As a Hamas militant walks into the kitchen, one boy stands up and says in English, “Please, please, please. Let me go home!” He then cries, “My dad! My dad!”
The Hamas militant then opens the refrigerator and offers the boys juice or wine. The boy says, “I want my mom,” before the militant grabs a bottle of Coca-Cola, closes the door to the refrigerator and walks outside.
The Israeli government has asked media outlets not to broadcast or distribute the clip within Israel “out of respect for the family’s wishes.”
There is no stated reason why the Prime Minister’s Office chose to release the video now, but it comes as Israel faces international condemnation over its planned assault on Gaza City and just days after a United Nations-backed initiative officially declared a famine in northern Gaza.
The older brother of the two boys was killed early on the morning of October 7 as he was on his way to the beach to go fishing with his friends.
