Sean Murray: It’s difficult to do justice to what we saw in this video. Or all the other videos

Having seen the 'graphic, horrific' footage of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and considering other videos of deaths in Gaza, SEAN MURRAY asks when the slaughter will end

Relatives mourn during the funeral of Antonio Macias, one of the victims of the Hamas attack on people at the Supernova festival. Picture: Francisco Seco/AP

It is as horrifying as you can imagine. Video footage assembled from multiple sources, relaying the Hamas slaughter on 7 October. In total, 138 people die over 43 minutes.

I was one of more than a dozen journalists invited to Israel’s Irish embassy to watch the footage with the Israeli ambassador who says she is seeing it for the first time. 

We sit in a small office boardroom watching GoPro footage shot by Hamas attackers as well as CCTV, social media, and dashcam footage.

It is graphic. It is horrific. It’s difficult to do justice in words to the stills and images seen on the video.

Like her counterparts in Israeli embassies around the world, ambassador  Dana Erlich hosted a screening of horrific footage from the October 7 Hamas attack for journalists in Dublin. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Prior to screening the video of the killings, Dana Erlich warns it would be “hard viewing” as she sat at the back of the room. She said that journalists could take notes but should not be too specific in its descriptions of killings, out of respect to the families of victims.

In the video, you see a father being murdered in front of his sons and a Hamas militant drinking a bottle of cola from the fridge as the kids cower in fear. You see people being shot dead in their cars. You see the bar area at a Supernova music festival where over a dozen bodies lie, and a first responder calling out “is anybody alive?”.

You see still photo after still photo of people who have been killed, including young children and charred remains. You see and hear Hamas fighters cheer and whoop with joy at their actions.

Ambassador Erlich said the reason to show it to journalists in Ireland — and it’s being done in countries across the globe — was so “the world knows and bears witness” to what happened on October 7, 2023.

A destroyed police station that was overrun on October 7 when Hamas militants stormed over a border fence and killed or captured hundreds of Israelis.  Picture: Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

She said it is to “make sure the world knows what we’re dealing with”.

And it’s likely also so Israel can show its side and perhaps offer a justification for the slaughter of innocent Palestinians in the weeks that followed the barbaric attack.

It’s these acts that have led to Israel becoming a pariah in the minds of some international leaders.

Already this week, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo criticised Israel over its recent strikes on refugee camps, saying “what we have seen today in Gaza is no longer proportional”.

The bodies of Israelis killed in the Hamas attack are gathered for identification at a military base in Ramla, Israel, on October 13. Picture: Ohad Zweigenberg/AP

South Africa’s government recalled its ambassador and diplomatic mission to Israel, condemning its actions in the Gaza Strip as “genocide”.

Last week, the UN Human Rights Office said some deadly Israeli air strikes could “amount to war crimes”.

Ireland, from the start, urged a proportionate response and just a few days ago Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke for many here when he said that Israel’s response to the Hamas attack was becoming “something more approaching revenge”.

According to the Gaza health ministry, Israeli bombardments had killed more than 10,000 people since the Hamas attack on October 7, which claimed the lives of 1,400 Israelis.

During a vigil in Jerusalem a month on from the October 7 Hamas attack, a man holds his baby while looking at posters of the men, women, and children held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Picture: Maya Alleruzzo/AP

In the Gaza Strip, around 40% of those killed are children. At the same time, the Hamas terror attack led to the abduction of more than 200 hostages. At this time, it is believed that eight-year-old Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand is among those being held captive. Her family had previously believed her dead.

Ambassador Dana Erlich said she had recently spoken to Emily’s father and sister but there had been “no development” and Israeli authorities “don’t know where she is”.

The description of “hard viewing” is an understatement. 

A man carries a child killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza during a funeral at a UN-run school in Deir al Balah, Gaza, on Friday, October 27.  Picture: Ali Mahmoud/AP

It is indisputable that what Hamas militants did in southern Israel on October 7 was abhorrent in every conceivable way.

After the video screening, Ms Erlich said that Israel is “trying to bring its people back” and has a right to defend itself. She said that the areas targeted are “not something we take lightly” and efforts are made to confirm it is a legitimate “military target”.

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But — and there must be a but here — there are other videos. All over social media. Videos of Palestinian families mourning their dead children. Of bodies in the streets. Of the aftermath of air strikes pummelling entire areas.

Watching the actions of Hamas that day left the overwhelming sense that all this must stop. But that seems little more than a faint hope at present.