Explosions and gunshots are heard in the background as militants record their attack inside a kibbutz. 

In one video a militant appears to see someone inside a home and shoots towards them. In another, they shoot the tyres of a parked ambulance. In yet another, they break into a house, where a mobile phone has been left on the kitchen table and is still ringing. 

The videos have been circulating on social media and show part of recent surprise attacks in Israel carried out by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 that killed hundreds of civilians, Telegram has been a key platform for the distribution of footage of the events. Many videos that emerged can provide insight into the massacres.

Common Features of the Videos

Both series of videos were posted on a pro-Israel Telegram channel called South First Responders (SFR). It should be noted that they are posted in short snippets on the channel and at least one of the videos contains a jump cut, which shows it was edited. Despite this, we were able to verify the events recorded in the footage. Both appear to have been filmed from wearable cameras, such as a GoPro, worn by militants involved in the October 7 attacks. Six videos were posted by SFR showing events in Kerem Shalom and 10 were posted by SFR showing events in Sufa.

Other footage of these incidents may exist, but these two video series each appear to have been filmed by a single individual. Both video series were filmed on the morning of October 7. Solar calculation from the footage indicates both attacks occurred around the same time between approximately 7:00 and 8:30 am. Both kibbutzim, which are roughly five kilometres apart, are located less than three kilometres from the border with Gaza.

The Attack on Kerem Shalom

The SFR Telegram channel posted a series of six videos taken from the camera of a fighter who participated in an attack on Kibbutz Kerem Shalom on October 7. The kibbutz is located immediately adjacent to the border between Gaza and Israel, and approximately two kilometres from the border with Egypt.

One of the fighters waving others through the perimeter wall has what appears to be an Al-Qassam Brigades patch on his combat vest (Al-Qassam is the military wing of Hamas).

According to a solar calculation, the militants crossed into Kerem Shalom about 7:30am on October 7.

The sixth and final video in the series shows the fighters engaged in a firefight inside Kerem Shalom Kibbutz.  We can not see in the footage who they exchange fire with but the fighter recording the video is eventually hit in the firefight, and presumably killed. 

The Attack on Sufa

Benjamin den Braber, a Senior Investigator at the Centre for Information Resilience, geolocated a series of videos from Sufa on 15 October and shared them on X, formerly Twitter. We have independently verified and confirmed several of the geolocations and outlined them below, starting with the second video, when the militant puts on the camera and sets out towards Israel.

GoPro footage shows the 7 October Hamas attack on Sufa in the South of the country near Egypt. The footage starts in Gaza and ends with the Hamas gunman documenting the events shot in Sufa. Below is an overview of events:

Source: South First Responders https://t.co/boOGaxm9bD pic.twitter.com/FjTWjXABZd

— Benjamin (@hengenahm) October 15, 2023

The second video in the series shows the militant donning a camera, and riding on the back of a motorcycle along a straight road, which leads towards the border. We geolocated the end of the clip to these coordinates 31.268085, 34.321625, just before the border. 

In the footage we can see the moment the motorbike struggles across a gap cut into a border fence between Gaza and Israel. 

Using the footage from the militant, taken as he was crossing through this fence we calculated that he crossed the border approximately 7am on October 7, based on the sun azimuth.

Next the militants join another group of fighters on motorbikes and pass through a concrete barrier wall into Israel at 31.265254, 34.335050.

In the third video, the militants drive west down a road and we see them shooting into a fenced area, which we matched to the perimeter of Kibbutz Sufa.

Before the militants arrive at the gate of the kibbutz they stop at a junction nearby what appears to be an Israeli military base. This can be seen in aerial imagery from Govmap.il located at 31.240231, 34.336213 a few hundred metres away from the kibbutz.

In the next videos, the fourth and fifth in the series, we see three men jump the gate of the kibbutz. As they approach the gate we see the sun is low on the horizon, beaming from beyond the gate straight into the camera. This suggests it was still early in the morning when they arrived at the entrance of the kibbutz.  

We see a militant jump over the yellow gate and hide behind the guard house, before walking into the kibbutz. We can see a sign with the name of the kibbutz in Hebrew (סופה).

Three other men enter the perimeter of the kibbutz and open the gate. As they enter, more gunshots can be heard. It is unclear who is shooting and where the shots are coming from.

At one point, a car approaches. The men open fire at it.

In video nine the militant shoots into another home and finally enters another residence, we geolocated both residences but are not including their location here. Once inside, they rummage through the belongings of the inhabitants and go from room to room. A mobile phone has been left on the kitchen table and is still ringing. A clock on the wall indicates it is 7:50 am local time. They fire one shot into the attic area.

In the final video the militants walk outside again to an area we geolocated to 31.238266, 34.341226. A moment later the militant wearing the camera is shot and collapses at 31.238288, 34.340901. He appears to have been shot from the rear as he appears to have been caught off guard. The unknown shooter fires another four times before the sound in the area goes quiet.

According to our solar estimates, the militant was shot at some time between 8:00 and 8:30am. His shadow is visible on the ground as he falls. When the camera turns it also shows the approximate direction of the sun behind a house. We used these two reference points to estimate the time when he was shot.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said it had verified four videos from the attacks in Israel- from the attacks on the Supernova music festival and Kibbutz Mefalsim. It said it is investigating these incidents, as well as others, as war crimes. 

Bellingcat will continue  to monitor the latest war in Israel-Palestine, including the IDF’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, with the aim of documenting civilian harm.

---

Youri van der Weide, Giancarlo Fiorella, Jake Godin, and Carlos Gonzales contributed research.

Bellingcat is a non-profit and the ability to carry out our work is dependent on the kind support of individual donors. If you would like to support our work, you can do so here. You can also subscribe to our Patreon channel here. Subscribe to our Newsletter and follow us on Twitter here and Mastodon.