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(NewsNation) — As global sympathy grows for those trapped, injured and killed in Gaza, Israel made moves this week to try and win over public opinion and gain control of the narrative.
Monday, Israel showed hundreds of members of the foreign press more than 40 minutes of footage — much of which was reportedly too graphic to be publicly released — revealing Hamas atrocities it says were committed on Oct. 7.
Guy Azriel, an anchor with Israel-based I24News, was among the group of journalists and described the images he saw.
In an interview with NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas, Azriel spoke about the “sheer brutality” he viewed. He said one video that has kept him up at night includes a father and his two children running to an outdoor shelter.
“All three of them are running in their underwear to that shelter. The next moment, we see a terrorist throwing a grenade into that shelter. The father then immediately collapses and dies. The children, both badly injured and bleeding, are being pulled out of that shelter by a terrorist,” Azriel said.
He continued: “The most horrific moment there is, because we also have sound of the video, is (when) the two are dragged back into the house. The children are speaking to each other. One is screaming to his brother, ‘Why am I alive? I cannot see anything. They’re going to kill us.’ One of them has lost his eyesight and they’re crying to each other, just seeing their father die in front of their eyes. The terrorist just casually drinks a bottle of water and completely ignores them.”
Moments later, Azriel said the children managed to escape as Hamas engaged in an exchange of gunfire.
While viewing videos shown by the Israeli government of the Hamas attack, Azriel said most of the journalists in the room were silent or released occasional sounds of disbelief.
“The extent of brutality, I don’t think the modern world has seen,” Azriel said.
He added: “People can have their opinions about the conflict and about Israel’s politics, but when it comes to what has transpired here on that morning, no honest human being can deny what has happened, and no honest human being can expect Israel to live side by side next to this organization.”
Israel’s military said more than 200 people were believed captured by Hamas and that at least 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, mostly civilians in the Oct. 7 attack. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, at least 5,791 Palestinians have been killed and 16,297 wounded in the war.
The Israeli government is reportedly arranging another screening of the videos Wednesday for international journalists. The showing comes as Israel has been saying a ground invasion of Gaza is imminent.
Since Israel sealed off Gaza following the Hamas attack, people in Gaza have been running out of food, water and medicine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.