As if we needed more evidence that Hamas has engaged in barbarity beyond belief in their attack on Israel, now "top secret" maps and documents captured from the bodies of dead Hamas terrorists show they made detailed plans to directly target youth centers and elementary schools -- in the hopes of "seizing hostages":
Documents exclusively obtained by NBC News show that Hamas created detailed plans to target elementary schools and a youth center in the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Sa'ad, to "kill as many people as possible," seize hostages and quickly move them into the Gaza Strip.
The attack plans, which are labeled "top secret" in Arabic, appear to be orders for two highly trained Hamas units to surround and infiltrate villages and target places where civilians, including children, gather. Israeli authorities are still determining the death toll in Kfar Sa'ad.
"Including children" would be more accurately worded as "deliberately targeting children," which in recent days we have seen Hamas doing repeatedly. Hamas has used children as human shields, and the captured docs reveal their intention not only to capture children but to murder them:
The documents were found on the bodies of Hamas terrorists by Israeli first responders and shared with NBC News. They include detailed maps and show that Hamas intended to kill or take hostage civilians and school children.
One page labeled “Top Secret” outlines a plan of attack for Kfar Sa’ad, saying “Combat unit 1” is directed to “contain the new Da’at school,” while “Combat unit 2” is to “collect hostages,” “search the Bnei Akiva youth center” and “search the old Da’at school.”
Another page labeled “Top Secret Maneuver” describes a plan for a Hamas unit to secure the east side of Kfar Sa’ad while a second unit controls the west. It says “kills as many as possible” and “capture hostages.” Other orders include surrounding a dining hall and holding hostages in it.
In response to the release of information on Hamas' targeting of civilians and children, Hamas has released a video of what was purported to be a Palestinian infant killed by Israeli fire; the "infant" was obviously fake, and the video was taken down, but not before going viral.
These were the results of that planning:
The Hamas documents, footage of the aftermath of the massacre and interviews with eyewitnesses and first responders tell a harrowing story.
"I saw murdered babies. I saw murdered children. I saw mothers and children murdered together," said Yossi Landau, a commander of ZAKA, an Israeli first responder organization.
This is another startling example of the barbarity of Hamas in this attack. More than that, it proves that these attacks were carefully and scrupulously planned and rehearsed. The level of specificity in the documents shown is the product of a military structure; these were not simple thugs who planned and carried out these atrocities. The plans described two Hamas units approaching an Israeli kibbutz in a pincer movement, with specific units advancing in a specified formation and with specified targets, including a youth center and a school; and as quoted above, with orders to "kills (sic) as many as possible" and taking hostages.
Meanwhile, there are, among American media figures, people abhorrent enough to try to justify Hamas' actions.
Israel's counterstrike is just starting. These captured documents and plans are yet another piece of evidence showing why Israel should not cease operations until Hamas is completely and finally neutralized as a military and governing organization. But Hamas and their sympathizers are not restricted to the Middle East; Congress continues to insist there is no threat in the United States, while surrounding the Capitol with barbed wire.
If anybody has not yet figured out that the Israel-Hamas conflict is one chapter in an ongoing war of civilization versus barbarity, this story should serve as further proof.