Hamas units were directed to “kill as many as possible”, the document showed (Representational)
Tel Aviv:
The Hamas group created detailed plans to target elementary schools and a youth centre in the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Sa’ad to “kill as many people as possible”, hold hostages and quickly take them into the Gaza Strip, documents have revealed, NBC News reported.
The attack plans, termed “top secret” in Arabic, seem to be orders for two trained Hamas units to surround and infiltrate villages and target places where civilians gather. Israeli authorities are yet to determine the death count in Kfar Sa’ad, according to NBC News.
The Israeli Defence Forces on Saturday confirmed that more than 120 civilians have been held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
The documents found on the bodies of Hamas operatives by Israel’s first responders included detailed maps and indicated that Hamas intended to kill or hold civilians as hostages.
One page titled “Top Secret” included details of the plan for an attack on Kfar Sa’ad asking “Combat unit 1” to “contain the new Da’at school,” while “Combat unit 2” was directed to “collect hostages”, “search the Bnei Akiva youth centre” and “search the old Da’at school”.
Another page labelled “Top Secret Maneuver” outlined a plan for a Hamas unit to secure the Kfar Sa’ad’s east side while a second unit controls the west.
According to the plan, Hamas units were directed to “kill as many as possible” and “capture hostages”. In addition, the Hamas units were asked to surround a dining hall and hold hostages in it.
The plan to attack Kfar Sa’ad is part of documents that are being analysed by Israeli officials, NBC reported citing a source in the Israeli army and one in the government.
According to Israeli officials, the documents revealed that Hamas had been systematically gathering intelligence on each kibbutz which shares borders with Gaza and creating specific plans of attack for each village that included the intentional targeting of women and children.
An Israel Defence Forces source said, “The dental office, the supermarket, the dining hall,” NBC News reported. The source added, “The level of specificity would cause anyone in the intelligence field’s jaw to drop.”
The plan of coordinated attacks comes contrary to the claims made by Hamas that it did not kill children. On Friday, Hamas released a video showing operatives holding and feeding Israeli children taken hostage.
Israeli Defence Forces reacted to the clip and said, “You can see their injuries, hear their cries, and feel them trembling with fear as these children are held hostage in their own homes by Hamas terrorists and their parents lie there dead in the next room. These are the terrorists we are going to defeat.”
Meanwhile, Yossi Landau, a commander of ZAKA, an Israeli first responder organization, said, “I saw murdered babies. I saw murdered children. I saw mothers and children murdered together,” NBC News reported.
The documents showed two Hamas units were to approach Kfar Sa’ad from two different assembly points, the report saod. Kibbutz Kfar Aza was one of the worst-hit regions in the October 7 attack on Israel.
On Tuesday, bodies of Israeli residents and Hamas operatives were found outside charred houses in the Kfar Aza kibbutz, CNN reported. According to the report, mattresses, furniture and houses in Kfar Aza were ransacked and set ablaze showing the scale of devastation caused by Israel in the region.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
