48 Hours in Hell: Colonel recalls battle to save civilians from Hamas
On October 7, in Kfar Aza, Israel, Hamas terrorists infiltrated the country from Gaza. Here, they would go house to house, butchering, raping and kidnapping hundreds of Israeli civilians.
Travelling in an armoured car to the site of the massacre, Rebel News reporter Avi Yemini spoke with one of the first high-ranking Israeli soldiers to respond to the attack. The devastation in the area was clear; destroyed homes, burned out vehicles, debris scattered about the streets.
Families were gathered together for Shabbat before the brutal Hamas terror attack began in the early hours of the morning, here in Kfar Aza and in other places near the Israel-Gaza border.
“They murder, torture, rape, and even took off the heads of babies and of our soldiers,” Colonel Eitan Dna tells Avi. The only thing that stopped the attack, the colonel explains, was armed civilians.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released interrogation footage of Hamas militants who were recently interrogated following their capture after their attack on southern Israel some three weeks ago.https://t.co/3akpX21fQP
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) October 26, 2023
Eventually, soldiers from the Israeli Defense Forces and police began to arrive about two hours later. “Together, with the civilians, [we] stopped this horrible attack,” he explains.
As the terrorists were indiscriminately killing civilians, Col. Dna tells Avi about one family's terrifying experience, locking themselves in a safe room in their house. “The terrorists burned the house,” he says while standing outside of the burned building. “As you can see, the safe room is normal. You don't see the fire inside.”
Eventually, the Israeli forces would reclaim the area after a hard fought battle that took 48 hours.
SHOCKING: Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) was near the Gaza-Israel border Tuesday night when sirens alerted that a "group of terrorists" had made an incursion into Israel approximately 500 metres from his location.
— Rebel News Australia (@RebelNews_AU) October 25, 2023
FULL REPORT: https://t.co/svcElii4ia pic.twitter.com/sbBjj7Da0W
Avi then asks the soldier a question that is on the mind of people around the world: how is it possible that Israel's famed intelligence agency was unaware of the complex Hamas attack, and how did they manage to penetrate the defensive barriers along the border?
It's a good question, says Col. Dna, one that the soldiers have too. “But it's not the time (to ask that question),” he says. “We are going to ask this question after the war, after we win. As of now, we have more than 200 of our people [held hostage] in Gaza.”
Where was Israel's famous intelligence agency, the Mossad, and its high-tech defence during Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack.
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) October 25, 2023
"Every Israeli is asking that same question," @OzraeliAvi Yemini tells @EzraLevant.
MORE: https://t.co/8CiUUX9LxN pic.twitter.com/UpAqlIYZTP
After the fighting the Kfar Aza was over, the colonel says Israeli forces found some identification materials showing some of the Hamas terrorists in the attack had permits to work in Israel. This, he says, meant “they knew exactly where to arrive” and where defensive positions were.
Col. Dna then shared a story of personal bravery with Avi. One father, he says, he found outside of the family's safe room. With the family safe, Dna says the father had a gun, magazines and a knife. “This is a father who rescued his family, and this is the bravery of Israel.”
The Israel Defense Forces have released a large amount of footage of its military operation into Gaza ahead of a full-scale ground invasion, which is still being planned as the United States readies its defenses for a possible counter-attack from Iran.https://t.co/WOE1e0XH7v
— Rebel News USA (@RebelNews_USA) October 26, 2023
To those doubtful of the brutality carried out by Hamas, the colonel says he “knows what his eyes saw.” When he arrived a few hours later, and having seen the aftermath of the attack, Col. Dna says he saw what he “need(ed) to do; I see my job.”
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