Military helicopters and vehicles have been seen on the move in Southern Israel on the fourth day of the war. Israeli soldiers stand next to the bodies of Israelis killed by Hamas militants in kibbutz Kfar Azza on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. Hamas militants overran Kfar Azza on Saturday, where many Israelis were killed and taken captive. Israeli soldiers stand next to the bodies of Israelis killed by Hamas militants in kibbutz Kfar Azza on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023.
“You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers in their bedrooms and how the terrorists killed,” Maj. Gen. Itay Veruz, a 39-year veteran of the Israeli army who led forces that reclaimed the village from militants, said Tuesday as he stood amid the wreckage. “It’s not a battlefield. It’s a massacre.” Inside one partially destroyed home a framed quotation from a popular television theme song hinted at what Kfar Aza meant to its residents: “I’ll be there for you, because you’re there for me, too,” it read. “In this house, we are friends.”
By the time journalists were escorted into the town Tuesday, rescuers had already removed the bodies of most of the villagers killed in the attack. But reporters watched as crews carried several more bags containing bodies to a truck and then to a lot in front of Kfar Aza’s synagogue, where workers attached name tags.