The battle Israel fears it is losing

The clip is the only publicly released footage from a film that was compiled by the Israeli government from the body-cam video of killed and captured Hamas terrorists who shot, butchered and burned alive about 1400 Israelis on October 7.

The full film, unedited and in all its horror, was shown to foreign journalists at a screening at an Israeli military base outside Tel Aviv on Monday night. The event was designed to remind the world the extent of Hamas’ atrocities – and to counter what Israel’s government spokesman Eylon Levy called a “Holocaust-denial like phenomenon unfolding in real time”.

As the conflict drags on, and the bodies on the other side pile ever higher, Israel feels the world is reacting more to the horrific images of bombed out Gaza and dead, desperate and starving Palestinians.

The death toll from Israeli reprisal raids has this week passed 5000, almost half of whom, Palestinian authorities said, were children. As of Tuesday, an estimated 800 people lay buried under rubble. There were not enough people or machines to dig them out.

Those not killed instantly will die a most terrifying death.

As Israel weighs up whether to launch a full ground war to try to take Hamas out, it wants to bolster support for its campaign so far, and for any further escalation.

Ahead of this week’s screening for journalists, Levy, the spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hinted that the world had already forgotten what happened on October 7. Or worse.

“As we work to defeat the terror organisation that brutalised our people, we are witnessing a Holocaust-denial-like phenomenon evolving in real time, as people are casting doubt on the magnitude of the atrocities that Hamas committed against our people and, in fact, recorded in order to glorify that violence,” he said.

Barack Obama on Tuesday (AEDT) added his voice to warnings around the globe the world was watching Israel closely and any military strategy “that ignores the human costs could ultimately backfire”.

This week’s presentation to media included the release of captured documents, including an abduction manual, translated from Arabic.

According to the supplied translation, there are eight pages of instructions.

“Bind the wrists or ankles and blindfold; separate and isolate [women and babies/ men],” one part reads.

“Kill the problematic and those who pose a threat; collect as much food and drinks as possible.

“Do not use your own supplies to feed the hostages, except in emergency situations.”

The Israelis also released video footage of what they say are interrogations of captured terrorists, complete with translated quotes such as: “Whoever kidnaps a hostage and brings them to Gaza gets a stipend of $US10,000 and an apartment.

“The instructions were to kidnap elderly women and children.

“We took a 15-year-old girl; took a selfie with her.

“Her body was lying on the floor; I shot her. The commander yelled at me, said I was wasting bullets on a corpse,” they told their captors.