Official Israeli data exposes lies about ‘murder’ of babies by Hamas

Newly-available Israeli data has contradicted Tel Aviv’s claims on alleged murder of “40 babies” by Hamas at a farming community during the Palestinian resistance group’s unprecedented incursion into Israeli territory on October 7.

The publicly available data was compiled by the AFP news agency from the Israeli social security agency.

The final death toll from the attack now stands at 695 Israeli civilians, including 36 children, as well as 373 security forces and 71 foreigners, giving a total of 1,139.

This excludes five people, among them four Israelis, still listed as missing by the prime minister's office.

In particular, a claim made on October 10 on the Israeli state's official X (formerly Twitter) account spoke of "40 babies murdered" at Kfar Aza kibbutz, based on a report by i24NEWS channel.

Questioned by AFP the following day, Israel's foreign ministry, which runs the X account, said it could not "confirm any number at this stage".

According to Israeli social security agency, 46 civilians were killed in Kfar Aza, the youngest being 14 years old.

Another testimony called into question was that of Colonel Golan Vach, head of the army's search and rescue unit, who told a group of journalists on October 27 that he "personally" transported "a decapitated baby" found in the arms of his mother in the Beeri kibbutz.

According to the data, one baby was killed in Beeri: the 10-month-old Mila Cohen, whose mother survived.

Army spokespersons did not respond to queries by AFP.

Inflated toll

On October 14, Israeli authorities announced a preliminary toll of more than 1,400 people killed during the cross-border attack by Hamas.

On November 10, the foreign ministry published an "updated estimate", saying the number of dead was around 1,200 people, without further details.

The Israeli social security agency data does not distinguish between those killed in the Hamas attack and civilians killed by Israeli forces in the fighting to retake control of southern Israel, an operation in which the army used shells and rockets on inhabited areas, according to testimonies collected by AFP and Israeli media.

Some 250 hostages were dragged back to Gaza in the attack, according to Israeli authorities.

Since then, 110 have been released, most during a one-week truce in November, and eight bodies of hostages have been returned.

Israel says Hamas still holds 132 hostages, including 19 presumed dead.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed more than 18,700 people, mostly women and children, according to figures from the Palestinian health ministry in the Gaza, and left much of the territory in ruins.