A new witness speaking about the events that occurred on October 7th in Israel once again revealed that on that day, Israeli tanks targeted both Hamas fighters and their own citizens, causing the death of 14 Israelis, including children, taken hostage in a house.
Reports reflected in the Israeli media on November 19th stated that on October 7th, during an attack by Hamas fighters on a kibbutz (an agricultural community established according to cooperative principles in Israel) in the Beeri region, 14 people, including 12-year-old girl Liel Hetzroni, were killed.
The issue gained widespread attention in the Israeli media under the title of "Palestinian fighters' brutality." Witness statements contradict Israel's claims. However, after Yasmin Porat, who survived and was in the house where the twins Liel and Yanai Hetzroni were held hostage, revealed on November 15th that the cause of the deaths was Israeli tank fire, the owner of the house where the hostages were held, Hadas Dagan, also broke her silence.
Dagan confirmed in an interview with Channel 12, an Israeli broadcasting channel, that the Israeli army attacked the house where Israeli civilians held by Palestinian fighters were with tank fire and heavy weapons. Describing the moment when Israeli soldiers arrived in front of their house, Dagan said, "At that moment, I clearly understood that our role was to be a human wall between our forces and them (Palestinian fighters)."
"I will never forget the screams of the twins," said Dagan, tearfully narrating the moment of the twins' death. She added, "I will never forget how these children screamed, how they shouted for help." Describing the moments when Israeli forces began to attack the house with heavy weapons, Dagan said that at first, she and her husband remained silent, and then they realized that their neighbors had died.
"Suddenly Adi (my husband) said to me, 'Hadas, Ze'ev is no longer with us.' I looked around from my shoulder and said, 'Pessi is no longer with us either,'" she said. Dagan described the moments she lost her husband with these words:
"Then I heard a terrible explosion. I couldn't move my legs. I couldn't hug Adi anymore. At that moment, I told him how much I loved him. I knew there was a tank outside now. Then the second explosion came. I felt I was injured. I saw blood flowing over me. I turned my head and saw a hole in Adi's artery. I pressed my thumb to the artery to stop the gushing blood. What else could I do? Then, for a moment, I realized that he was no longer moving. Then I understood that I was already in a pool of blood and that pressing my finger had no meaning."
Israeli security forces knew there were civilians in the house. Another witness, Porat, had previously stated in an interview that the house where she was with Palestinian fighters was surrounded by Israeli security forces, and there was intense fighting between the parties. After a while, a Palestinian fighter decided to surrender, took her with him, and they went out. Porat stated that she and the Palestinian fighter were interrogated by Israeli security forces, and during the 3-hour interrogation, she provided technical details she remembered about how many civilians were in the house, where the civilians were held, and information about the house.
Porat, mentioning that the conflict continued during the interrogation, said that after about 4 hours of crossfire between the Israeli army and Hamas fighters, a tank arrived in front of the house around 19:30 local time.
"I know there were two shots fired from the tank," Porat said, sharing that the surviving person from the same incident and the owner of the house where they were held hostage, Hadas Dagan, also reached the same conclusion as she did from what she told him.
Israeli war pilot Colonel Erez had stated that it was understood that the army applied the "Hannibal Protocol," which involves killing hostages to prevent Israeli civilians from being taken as prisoners to Gaza, during Palestinian fighters' attack on October 7. Speaking to Haaretz newspaper on the subject, Erez had said, "It is understood that the Hannibal Protocol was applied at some point because when you detect a hostage situation, it is Hannibal, but Hannibal, which we have been practicing for the last 20 years, was about a single vehicle with hostages. What we saw here was a massive Hannibal. There were many openings in the fences, and there were thousands of people in many different vehicles, both with and without hostages."
Haaretz newspaper reported on November 19 that senior Israeli security officials evaluated the security assessment of the attack by Palestinian fighters from Gaza on October 7, based on the interrogation records of Palestinian fighters and the police investigation.
According to the evaluation of senior Israeli security officials based on police investigation and interrogation records of Palestinian fighters, it was stated that Palestinian fighters did not have prior knowledge of the music festival held near the Gaza Strip. The police investigation also revealed that most of the festival participants managed to escape because it was decided to stop the party half an hour before the first gunshot was heard.
The investigation also allegedly revealed that an Israeli war helicopter hit civilians while firing at Palestinian fighters. According to a police source, the investigation also shows that an Israeli army helicopter, which arrived at the scene and appeared to fire at terrorists, also hit some festival participants. According to the police, 364 people were killed at the festival.
Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, also reported on the Israeli Air Force helicopters intervening in the moments when Palestinian fighters attacked Gaza on October 7. The news claimed the following:
"Palestinian fighters were instructed to slowly blend into the crowd and not move no matter what. In this way, they tried to convince the air force that those below were Israelis. This deception worked for a while until Apache helicopters had to get rid of all restrictions. When the pilots realized it was difficult to distinguish who was a terrorist and who was Israeli, some decided to use artillery against the terrorists without obtaining permission around 09:00."
The Israeli police warned national media organizations that reported on the possibility of Israeli civilians being killed by Israeli military helicopters during the group's intervention when Palestinian fighters attacked on October 7. In the police statement, it was stated, "Especially in this period, we call on the media to show responsibility in their news and to rely on official sources only."
The Military Censorship Unit of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate sent a letter to the press on October 26, introducing various bans on news about Gaza, requesting that all news and visuals regarding the course of the war and the activities of the army be sent to their "censorship unit" before being published. In footage broadcast by Israeli Channel 12 on November 11, an Israeli reporter, broadcasting from the Barzilai Hospital in the city of Ashkelon near the Gaza Strip, stated that all the information they conveyed from in front of the Barzilai Hospital had been censored by the Israeli army. The Israeli reporter said, "We must say that all the information we conveyed to you from in front of Barzilai Hospital was censored by the Israeli army. We can say that wounded soldiers came here, but we have no permission to talk about them until allowed."
