The allegations he made in his repulsive confession appear to reinforce a swathe of earlier reports from Israel claiming Hamas unleashed an unprecedented level of cruelty toward its victims.
Asked about the purpose of the October 7 incursion, the man said: “To kill. Women, children, everyone, anyone who was in the house.”
He noted the orders received from Hamas commanders defied the teachings he received at his Mosque in Gaza, where the Imam instructed him to respect women and children.
The man said: “In the army they tell us to kill, massacre them everywhere. Women and children and so on.
“In the religion, they say it is forbidden to kill children, women, the elderly. In the army, the commander will tell you, stomp on their heads, behead them, do whatever you want with them.”
Initial assessments had suggested that headless remains had been decapitated as a result of grenade explosions as Hamas insurgents moved on from one target to the next.
But should the testimony be corroborated, it would be the first instance of Hamas actively ordering the beheading of its victims.
The captive also drew an eerie parallel between Hamas and ISIS, noting the paramilitary organization has been increasingly adopting the methods of the Islamic State. He said: “ISIS burns, beheads and butchers…Hamas became ISIS.”
The 24-year-old described his commanders as “inhuman” and questioned the orders he received: “It’s things a person doesn’t do. Beheading people. Having sex with dead bodies – meaning the body of a dead young woman.”
The man appeared to be speaking freely about Hamas’s horrific mission but the circumstances of his capture and detention are unclear.
The IDF said the man was being held in a secure location but rejected suggestions that the clip violated the Geneva Convention’s requirements that prisoners of war be protected from “insults and public curiosity.”
They argued Hamas militants are not prisoners of war because the day of the attack Israel was not at war.
But things quickly changed, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledging to wipe out Hamas completely and threatening a ground invasion of Gaza.
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