IDF says Hamas fighters killed and decapitated babies at one kibbutz near the Gaza borderlocked

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces told Insider on Tuesday that its soldiers found the decapitated corpses of babies at Kfar Aza, a kibbutz near Gaza.

The spokesperson, Major Nir Dinar, did not say how many babies' bodies had been found, nor how many had been beheaded.

Insider was unable to independently confirm what was found, but Israeli media outlets have also reported the claim, attributing it to soldiers.

The spokesperson told Insider that although he hadn't seen images or videos himself, "soldiers on the ground who are there told me this."

"These people [Hamas] are animals," Dinar added. "They have butchered women and children in worse ways than ISIS."

Reports started to emerge on Tuesday that Israeli soldiers had made the grisly discoveries at the self-sustaining rural community near Gaza.

A later statement from Dinar said: "We can not confirm any numbers. What happened in Kibbutz Kfar Aza is a massacre in which women children, toddlers and elderly were brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action."

Israeli officials appeared to confirm the beheadings, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant telling soldiers "whoever comes here to decapitate – we will wipe out," according to a screenshot from Israeli news outlet N12 shared and translated on X.

The kibbutz was attacked by Hamas militants on Saturday, with fighting continuing there into Sunday. Hamas targeted multiple kibbutzim near the border with Gaza after the militants broke through the gate separating the territory from Israel.

Nicole Zedek, reporting for the Israeli news station, i24News, said: "Babies, their heads cut off, that's what they [the soldiers] said."

Speaking from Kfar Aza, she added: "You can see some of these soldiers right now, comforting each other."

In another clip, shared on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Zedek said a commander told her there, "about 40 babies, at least, were taken out on gurneys."

In a third i24News clip shared on X, an Israeli soldier at the kibbutz said Hamas is "very bad," adding that "they cut heads of children, cut heads off women."

CNN's Nic Robertson, also on the ground at Kfar Aza, reported on the scene as dead bodies were being collected and counted.

"There were so many murdered members of this kibbutz," he said. "Men, women, children, hands bound, shot, executed, heads cut."

According to the Israeli embassy in the US, at least 1,000 Israelis, most of them civilians, had been killed as of Tuesday.

Reports and videos of Hamas kidnapping Israelis and holding them hostage in Gaza have also emerged since Saturday's attack. Israeli officials have notified at least 50 families that their loved ones are being held by Hamas.

Hamas, in response, threatened that it would publicly execute one Israeli hostage every time Israel strikes Gaza without warning.

Israel's retaliatory airstrikes have also killed at least 830 people in Gaza, The Washington Post reported, citing the Health Ministry in Gaza.

The death toll includes at least 140 children, according to the latest update from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which was posted Monday.

Israel has announced a full "siege" in Gaza, eliminating supplies and cutting off electricity for civilians living there.