The Israeli government, with the intention of garnering international support for its response to the conflict with Hamas, presented graphic images of dead children and civilians to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO defense ministers. These disturbing images were said to depict the aftermath of attacks by the Palestinian group Hamas.
In an effort to rally global outrage against the Gaza militants following the devastating assault on Israeli communities last Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also posted a picture on social media showing a deceased infant in a pool of blood and the charred remains of a child.
Antony Blinken, who arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday, revealed to reporters that he had been shown photographs and videos depicting horrifying scenes, including a baby shot multiple times, beheaded soldiers, and young people burned alive in their cars or hideouts. He described it as “depravity in the worst imaginable way” and noted the power of these images to convey the severity of the situation.
Following Hamas’s deadly attack on Israeli communities, which resulted in more than 1,300 casualties, Israel has launched intensive bombing raids on Gaza over the past five days and has massed tens of thousands of troops along the border in preparation for a potential ground invasion.
Gaza authorities reported that over 1,400 Palestinians, predominantly civilians, including children, have already been killed, with more than 6,000 wounded. A land invasion in the densely populated territory could lead to a significantly higher toll.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant showed a video to his NATO counterparts at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels. He claimed that the video depicted horrific scenes from the surprise attack by Hamas, including the tying up and shooting of children.
Images of the deceased infants were included in the video shown to NATO but were not released to the public. The video confirmed the brutality of the attacks, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The White House stated that it had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the images.
Hamas has denied harming civilians and accused Israel and Western powers of spreading false reports to incite violence against Palestinians.
While some reports had initially claimed that militants had beheaded babies, this was not supported by the images shown to NATO or other verified sources. U.S. President Joseph Biden had suggested on Wednesday that he had seen images of children beheaded by militants, but the White House later clarified that U.S. officials had not seen any evidence of this.
Netanyahu has not repeated a previous claim that Hamas had beheaded children, and the accusation was not reiterated by Israeli officials to NATO ministers.
However, international human rights organizations, journalists, and medics have documented civilian casualties, including women, children, the elderly, as well as young men and soldiers in the conflict.
While NATO is not expected to directly engage in the conflict, multiple NATO states, primarily the United States, have offered military assistance to Israel. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin emphasized that Washington was not placing any conditions on its security assistance to Israel and expected Israel’s professional military to act responsibly.