The Israel Defense Forces say Hamas has taken hostages and prisoners of war since it launched its surprise attack Saturday morning.
In videos geolocated and authenticated by CNN, Hamas appears to have taken Israelis captive in and near Gaza, including Israeli soldiers.
In one of the videos, geolocated by CNN to the neighborhood of Shejaiya in Gaza, a barefoot woman is pulled from the trunk of a Jeep by a gunman and then forced into the backseat of the car. Her face is bleeding, and her wrists appear to be cable-tied behind her back. The jeep also appears to have an Israel Defense Forces license plate, suggesting it may have been stolen and brought into Gaza.
Another video, which appears to show Hamas militants taking multiple Israelis captive, was geolocated by CNN to Be’eri in southern Israel, which is a village close to Gaza.
In another set of videos geolocated and authenticated, Hamas appears to be seizing Israeli soldiers.
The first video shows Hamas militants yank two clearly terrified and stunned soldiers out of a disabled tank. It’s unclear from the video how the tank was disabled, but Hamas has been utilizing drones to drop bombs onto Israeli tanks.
The militants are then seen kicking one of the soldiers on the ground in a short snippet of video. In the next clip, the soldier is seen lying motionless on the ground.
The second soldier is led away by Hamas militants.
A third soldier — whose face was very bloody — is seen lying on the ground motionless near the tank track. CNN does not know the current whereabouts or status of the three soldiers.
Another video, taken afterward, shows a number of different armed men around the tank. The three soldiers seen in the first video are nowhere to be seen.
The armed men in the second video are seen pulling a fourth Israeli soldier from the tank.
The soldier is motionless as he’s dragged down the side of the tank and onto the ground. The armed men then begin to stomp on the man’s body.
The video is heavily edited — Hamas has blurred the faces of their militants — and it was posted to Hamas’ official social media accounts. CNN has geolocated the video and can report that it was taken along the eastern Gaza border near the border wall.
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