Hamas militants have allegedly killed babies in a barbaric attack on an Israeli kibbutz, according to reports.
Israeli soldiers told reporters on the ground that they had found the decapitated bodies of young children at Kfar Aza kibbutz near the Gaza border.
They were discovered after the area came under heavy attack on Saturday morning.
In the aftermath, amid burned-out houses, Israeli residents and Hamas militants lay on the ground beside scattered furniture and torched cars.
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Israeli soldiers have been going from from house to house to remove the dead on Tuesday.
Israeli Major General Itai Veruv said: ‘You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers, in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms and how the terrorist kills them.
‘It’s not a war, it’s not a battlefield. It’s a massacre. It’s something we used to imagine from our grandfathers, grandmothers in the pogrom in Europe and other places.’
Outside one of the small houses in the settlement, the body of a resident was covered by a purple sheet with a bare foot protruding.
A pillow and other objects from the house lay scattered.
Elsewhere, bodies of the gunmen lay face down on the ground and a destroyed gate at the perimeter of the village showed where they had gained entry.
After around 70 Hamas fighters carrying guns and grenades stormed the usually quiet village, they went on a terrifying rampage.
Militants killed anyone in their way – including men, women and children – and destroyed anything in their way, such as homes and businesses.
Hundreds of Israelis have died and dozens taken hostage in places like Kfar Aza, near Sderot.
Some of the houses had been almost totally destroyed in the attack with collapsed, burned walls.
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Disturbing images from the scene show scenes of pure terror with blood scattered across walls and doors.
Soldiers have only now been able to comb through the devastated community after intense fighting eased.
The bloody conflict has so far claimed more than 1,700 lives on both sides.
Meanwhile, the number of displaced people in the Gaza Strip has surpassed 187,500, and Unicef has urged for a humanitarian corridor to be established.
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