Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday showed photos of babies killed by Hamas to visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who landed in Tel Aviv earlier in the day to express America's support to the Jewish state. In a tweet, Netanyahu's office said that he showed Blinken some of the "horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters". The images include charred and blood-soaked bodies of babies.
After breaching the fenced border on Saturday, Hamas militants, who rule Gaza, went door to door to kill Israelis. They massacred young people at a music festival, killed entire families, murdered parents in front of their children, and shot children in front of their parents. Pictures have also emerged of people burned inside a car.
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Netanyahu mentioned some of these atrocities during a joint press conference with Blinken. He said Hamas had shown itself to be an enemy of civilization: "the massacring of young people in an outdoor music festival; the butchering of entire families; the murder of parents in front of their children and the murder of children in front of their parents; the burning of people alive; beheading; the kidnapping of a young boy, not only kidnapped, molested, hurt, attacked; and the sickening display of celebrating these horrors, the celebration and glorification of evil."
The Israeli PM said that US President Joe Biden was absolutely correct in calling this "sheer evil". "Hamas is ISIS and just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed. And Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated," Netanyahu said, adding they should be spit out from the community of nations. "No leader should meet them, no country should harbor them, and those that do should be sanctioned."
Earlier, US President Biden described Hamas' attack on Israel as "an act of sheer evil" and said that he never really thought he would see "pictures of terrorists beheading children". However, a White House official later clarified that Biden did not actually see such images, but was referring to "reports from Israel.
The US Secretary of State said that tragically, the number of innocent lives claimed by Hamas' heinous attacks continued to rise. "Among those, we now know that at least 25 American citizens were killed." He said Washington was supplying ammunition, and interceptors to replenish Israel's Iron Dome alongside other defence material.
"First shipments of US military support have already arrived in Israel and more is on the way," Blinken said, adding that if Israel's defence needs evolved, the Biden administration would work with Congress to make sure that they were met. "Here in Israel and everywhere, we will reaffirm the crystal clear warning that President Biden issued yesterday to any adversary thinking of taking advantage of the current crisis to attack Israel - Don't, United States has Israel's back."
Blinken further said that the message that he brought to Israel was: "You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself but as long as America exists, you will never ever have to. We will always be there by your side."