Israeli village near Gaza border lies in ruins, filled with bodies

Throughout the town, walls and torched cars were riddled with bullet holes, tracing a path of violence that continued inside to bedrooms with mattresses covered in blood, safe rooms that could not withstand the attack, even bathrooms.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers, in helmets and body armour, were deployed to the village (Erik Marmor/AP)

Journalists taken by the Israeli military to a village they have retaken in their battle to beat back a sweeping assault launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip paint a chilling picture of its destruction.

On the road approaching the rural village, the bodies of militants were said to be laying scattered between the shells of burned-out cars. Walls and doors of what used to be neatly kept homes were blasted wide open, and bags holding the bodies of dead residents awaited identification.