"We had to kidnap as many people as possible. In Gaza, anyone who takes a hostage receives a paycheck." By how much? "An apartment is $10,000." A home for every hostage? "Yes." Who told you that? "That's how it works in the al Qassam brigades, because they wanted the most hostages."
The Israeli army has released videos, taken by local media, of the interrogations of seven of the Hamas terrorists, captured during the October 7 attack, in which they admit to having been ordered to "kill, cut off heads, maim and abduct civilians". In one case, they were even allegedly given the grim "permission to rape the corpse of a girl." In order not to "invalidate" these interrogations, the Israeli prosecutor's office has decided to increase the detention period for Hamas members to 90 days without allowing them access to a lawyer.
Sitting on a chair in anonymous offices, next to the photocopier or beyond a desk, someone with handcuffs on his wrists, one with a white T-shirt stained with blood, the prisoners parade alone in front of the police or the Shin Bet agents, who, unlike the detainees, are never seen. In the videos, the atmosphere of the interviews in Arabic appears rather calm: perhaps for the use and consumption of the cameras, no one ever raises their voice, only from the looks and faces - not obscured - of the arrested some nervousness leaks out.
The questions are more or less the same for everyone, the answers are the ones that the agents probably want to hear. Which group are you part of? "Hamas." Which arm? "Qassam." Qassam or Nukhba?, the policeman insists. "Nukhba," the prisoner replies, rhythmically leaning forward with a grimace of pain. And again. What was your mission? "Infiltrate the Sufa military post. And then the kibbutzim." But there are civilians on the kibbutzim, the agent points out. "The order regarding civilians was to kill the men and capture the women, the elderly and the children," admits the arrested man without batting an eyelid. All men?, they ask him again. "The young ones." Civil? "It doesn't matter, civilian, soldier..." Never mind. The "mission" of another was to "cleanse" the kibbutz of Kfar Aza, one of the most battered by the ferocity of Hamas. What does it mean to clean up?, they ask him. "Empty it, empty the houses," he replies trivially. "I saw a woman on the floor, I thought she was dead and I didn't go near her. His dog went out into the street, I shot him," said another.
The youngest, sitting in the middle of a room, talks about the group and never in the first person, as if to distance himself: "There was a girl of 15-16 years old. They wanted to take a selfie with her, another told them to shoot her. The others said: don't kill her, kidnap her. Then he took a selfie and took her away on his motorcycle." He continues: "I shot a dead man in the head. They scolded me because I had wasted the bullets, because they were used to kill civilians."
At the end of the edit, the questions change in tone. They move on to the moral and political responsibility of the slaughter. Do the Quran and Islam tell you to do this? Are they pushing you to kill children?, one of the 007s asks. "No," the prisoner replies, looking down. And in your opinion, are these actions like those of ISIS? "Yes. They deceived us." Who deceived you?, the agent asks. "All of them. Sinwar, Deif, Haniyeh, all the leaders of Hamas. They have abandoned us."
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