Israeli official says government cannot confirm babies were beheaded in Hamas attack

The Israeli government has not confirmed the specific claim that Hamas attackers cut off the heads of babies during their shock attack on Saturday, an Israeli official told CNN, contradicting a previous public statement by the Prime Minister’s office.

“There have been cases of Hamas militants carrying out beheadings and other ISIS-style atrocities. However, we cannot confirm if the victims were men or women, soldiers or civilians, adults or children,” the official said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that people had been beheaded by Hamas in an appearance beside Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, but did not specify if they were children.

His office later released what it described as “horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters.”

The three photos showed two babies whose bodies had been burned beyond recognition and a third infant’s bloodstained body.

The post said that Netanyahu showed Blinken the photos, as well as others.

The explosive allegations that children had been decapitated at the kibbutz of Kfar Aza emerged Tuesday in Israeli media. Israel Defense Forces later described the scene as a “massacre” in a statement to CNN. Women, children toddlers and the elderly were “brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action,” the IDF said.

Tal Heinrich, a spokeswoman for Netanyahu, said on Wednesday that babies and toddlers had been found with their “heads decapitated” in Kfar Aza.

US President Joe Biden appeared to confirm that information. In a roundtable with Jewish community leaders on Wednesday, he said: “I have been doing this a long time, I never really thought that I would see… have confirmed pictures of terrorist beheading children.”

A US administration official later clarified Biden’s remarks, telling CNN that neither Biden nor his aides had seen pictures or had received confirmed reports of children or infants having been beheaded by Hamas. The official clarified that Biden was referring to public comments from media outlets and Israeli officials.

An IDF spokesman, Jonathan Conricus, later in the day said terrorists had likely carried out decapitations of babies in the Be’eri kibbutz.

“We got very very disturbing reports that came from the ground that there were babies that had been beheaded… I think we can now say with relative confidence that unfortunately this is what happened in Be’eri,” he said.

Israeli officials initially avoided discussing the specifics of how its citizens were killed. They instead likened Hamas’ brutality to that of ISIS, the Sunni terror group that beheaded captives and burned prisoners alive.

Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on October 12 Ibrahim Hams/AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian woman covered in dust and dirt carries a child in Gaza City on October 12. Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images An Israeli soldier walks by a house destroyed by Hamas militants in Kibbutz Be'eri on October 11. Baz Ratner/AP An Israeli army self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on October 11. Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images People carry bodies of Palestinians killed during an Israeli airstrike prior to their burial in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Wednesday, October 11. Abed Rahim Khatib/Picture-Alliance/Getty Images An aerial view of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes at the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza City on October 11. Yahya Hassouna/AFP/Getty Images Mourners react beside the body of Mapal Adam during her funeral in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 11. Francisco Seco/AP Palestinians run from Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 11. Abed Zagout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Israeli soldiers load donated food into the back of a military vehicle in Sderot, Israel, on October 11. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux Bullet holes are seen in a cracked window at the entrance of a kindergarten in Be'eri, Israel, on October 11. The self-sustaining farming community near Gaza was one of the first places targeted by Hamas militants on October 7. Baz Ratner/AP A mourner reacts while burying a child from the al-Agha family, who were killed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 11. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters Itzik and Miriam Shafir, center, mourn during their son's funeral at a cemetery in Modiin Maccabim, Israel, on Wednesday, October 11. Their son, Dor Shafir, and his girlfriend, Savion Kiper, were killed during Hamas' attack on a music festival on Saturday. Maya Alleruzzo/AP A boy carries salvaged belongings from the wreckage of his family's home in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 11. Yousef Masoud/The New York Times/Redux Smoke rises after Israeli strikes on the seaport of Gaza City on Tuesday, October 10. Mohammed Salem/Reuters Israeli soldiers carry a body on October 10 in Kfar Aza, a village in Israel just across the border from Gaza. Hamas militants carried out a "massacre" in Kfar Aza during their attacks over the weekend, the Israel Defense Forces told CNN Sergey Ponomarev/The New York Times/Redux Palestinians mourn during the funeral of a relative killed in an Israeli strike, in Gaza City on October 10. Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images People mourn at the grave of Eden Guez during her funeral in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 10. She was killed as she attended a music festival that was attacked by terrorists from Gaza . Israeli officials counted at least 260 bodies at the Nova Festival. Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters Israeli soldiers take position in Kfar Aza near the border with Gaza on October 10. Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Palestinians rescue a young girl from the rubble of a destroyed residential building following an Israeli airstrike on October 10. Fatima Shbair/AP Stranded travelers wait to be booked on a flight at Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv on October 10. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux Palestinians walk amid the rubble following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 10. Fatima Shbair/AP Israelis in Ashkelon take cover in a shelter as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets on October 10. Ohad Zwigenberg/AP People gather around the bodies of two Palestinian reporters, Mohammed Soboh and Said al-Tawil, who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 10. Fatima Shbair/AP Israelis mourn as they attend the funeral of Israel Defense Forces soldier Noam Elimeleh Rothenberg at Mount Herzel Cemetery in Jerusalem, on October 10. Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian man reacts as he carries the body of his cousin who was pulled from the rubble after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on Monday, October 9. Belal Khaled/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A family takes shelter at a neighbor's house after their home was damaged in an Israeli airstrike in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza on October 9. Samar Abu Elouf/The New York Times/Redux Children run for cover as bombs fall near the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on October 9. Samar Abu Elouf/The New York Times/Redux A photo from a wedding is seen on the ground of a building in Ashkelon that was hit by rockets from Gaza on October 9. Amir Cohen/Reuters People take shelter in Jerusalem on October 9. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux The ruins of the Yassin mosque are seen in the Shati refugee camp just outside Gaza City on October 9. Samar Abu Elouf/The New York Times/Redux Friends and relatives of Ilai Bar Sade mourn next to his grave during his funeral at a military cemetery in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 9. Erik Marmor/AP Six-month-old Sama Alwadia is rescued from the rubble in Gaza City on October 9. Though the child had survived the initial strike, she died later while being treated for her injuries. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Lightning strikes over Gaza City following an Israeli bombardment on October 9. Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images Israeli soldiers take position near the border between Gaza and Israel on October 9. Oren Ziv/AP A Palestinian man mourns over the body of his nephew killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 9. Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Israeli security and emergency officials respond after a rocket landed in the Israeli settlement of Beitar Ilit, in the occupied West Bank, on October 9. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the Sousi mosque in Gaza City on October 9. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images Israeli soldiers work on a tank at the border between Israel and Gaza on October 9. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa/picture-alliance/AP Palestinians remove a body from the rubble of a building after an Israeli airstrike on the Jebaliya refugee camp in Gaza on October 9. Ramez Mahmoud/AP A plume of smoke rises in the sky over Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on October 9. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images The mother of Israeli Col. Roi Levy cries during her son's funeral at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on October 9. Maya Alleruzzo/AP Palestinians inspect damage from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City's Shati refugee camp on October 9. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images An injured Palestinian child is pictured in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes at al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza on October 9. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Israelis view a damaged residential building in Ashkelon after it was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza on October 9. Erik Marmor/AP Tali Touito reacts as she describes how Hamas gunmen attacked and took over the police station on her street, in Sderot, Israel, on Sunday, October 8. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux Fire and smoke rise from Gaza City following an Israeli airstrike on October 8. Fatima Shbair/AP A relative of an Israeli missing since the attacks is overcome by emotion during a press conference in Ramat Gan, Israel, on October 8. Maya Alleruzzo/AP Palestinians inspect a mosque destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 8. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters An Israeli soldier prays standing in front of a tank on the outskirts of the northern town of Kiryat Shmona on October 8. Jalaa Marey/AFP/Getty Images Israelis inspect the rubble of a building in Tel Aviv on October 8, a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza. Oded Balilty/AP Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza on October 8. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters Palestinians search the rubble of a home in Khan Younis that was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes on October 8. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters Palestinian citizens inspect damage to their homes caused by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 8. Ahmad Hasballah/Getty Images Rockets launched from Gaza are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system on October 8. Amir Cohen/Reuters Palestinian children look toward the sky at the sound of airstrikes at a United Nations-run school in Gaza on Saturday, October 7. Samar Abu Elouf/The New York Times/Redux A woman runs to her family's reinforced concrete shelter moments after rocket sirens sounded in Ashkelon on October 7. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux From the window of his family's apartment, a man surveys damage from a rocket that struck a parking lot in Ashkelon on October 7. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux Palestinians gather around an Israeli army vehicle that Palestinian militants drove from Israel into Gaza on October 7. Fatima Shbair/AP Palestinians break into the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, after gunmen infiltrated parts of southern Israel on October 7. Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa/Reuters Police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket in Ashkelon on October 7. Tsafrir Abayov/AP Israeli police take cover in Ashkelon as sirens wail while rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel on October 7. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images Smoke rises over Gaza during Israeli airstrikes on October 7. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images An Israeli woman reacts over the body of her relative who was killed in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 7. Baz Ratner/AP Children are seen in a damaged house in Gaza after Israeli airstrikes on October 7. Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Vehicles in Ashkelon burn as rockets are launched from Gaza on October 7. Ilan Rosenberg/Reuters A man in Ashkelon runs after rockets were launched from Gaza on October 7. Amir Cohen/Reuters Israelis donate blood in Jerusalem on October 7. Maya Alleruzzo/AP Palestinians inspect a destroyed building as emergency responders try to contain fires after Israeli jets bombed Gaza on October 7. Samar Abu Elouf/The New York Times/Redux Outside of a hospital in Gaza, men sit next to the covered body of a Palestinian militant killed during Saturday's clashes. Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images Relatives of Palestinians killed on Saturday, October 7, mourn at the morgue of a hospital in Gaza. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images An Israeli soldier stands by the bodies of Israelis killed by Palestinian militants in Sderot on October 7. Tsafrir Abayov/AP licensed A woman stands in a room damaged by rockets in Ashkelon on October 7. Amir Cohen/Reuters A building in Tel Aviv is ablaze Saturday, October 7, following rocket attacks from Gaza. Itai Ron/Reuters Smoke rises as the clashes between Palestinian groups and Israeli forces continue on the streets of Beit Hanun in Gaza on October 7. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images People take cover in a bomb shelter in Rishon Lezion, Israel, as rockets are launched from Gaza on October 7. Hadas Parush/Reuters Rockets are fired toward Israel from Gaza on October 7. Fatima Shbair/AP In pictures: The deadly clashes in Israel and Gaza Prev Next

Hamas on Wednesday denied the allegations. Izzat al-Risheq, a senior official and spokesperson for the Islamist militant group, said that the international media had “spread lies about our Palestinian people and the resistance claiming that members of the Palestinian resistance beheaded children and attacked women with no evidence to support such claims and lies.”

Al-Risheq’s claim that Hamas did not attack women is demonstrably false. Women, children and the elderly at kibbutzim like Kfar Aza and Be’eri and were killed during the surprise attack. Videos posted online verified by CNN show women who were attending the music festival targeted by the group’s gunmen being kidnapped.

Video Ad Feedback 'It wasn't a war, it was a slaughter': Israeli festival survivor describes horrors 07:06 - Source: CNN

CNN has pored through hundreds of hours of media posted online attempting to corroborate accounts of atrocities committed by Hamas. In one video, which CNN determined to be authentic but has not been able to geolocate, an assailant attacks an injured man with a garden tool in an attempt to behead him. But CNN has not seen anything that would appear to confirm the claims of decapitated children.

CNN also visited the ransacked ruins of Kfar Aza on Tuesday and saw no evidence of beheaded youths. Israeli officials have not released any photographs of the incident either.