NIR OZ, Israel (WABC) — The scope of devastation in Nir Oz, Israel, near the Gaza border, is hard to take in.
Eyewitness News Reporter Josh Einiger traveled to a kibbutz that had been destroyed by Hamas in the attack nearly two weeks ago.
An ex-British special forces commando accompanied Einiger through the region as his security expert. He told him that in all of his years, he’d never seen anything like this.
The kibbutz is a very small town that had some 400 residents. More than 100 of them were murdered, captured by Hamas, or are just missing and unaccounted for.
Einiger says that there are a thousand stories to tell in the area, but he selected one to highlight the devastation.
A home was completely burned out and riddled with bullet holes. One of many there that suffered the same fate.
It had been the home of a mother, father, twin 5-year-olds, and a 2-and-a-half-year-old.
The home’s safe room door had several bullet holes pierced through it.
When the attack broke out, this family, along with many others tried to shelter in their safe rooms.
Apparently, the Hamas terrorists’ only goal in this particular location was to kill as many people as they could.
After shooting through the door, the home was set on fire.
Once the attack was over and the rescue workers and military could try to help the victims, the whole family was discovered dead inside the safe room.
There are 32 such communities in southern Israel like the one Einiger highlighted.
Sixteen of them were targeted in this way and at the same time.
The security forces on a Saturday morning on a holiday really had no way to protect them all, Einiger explained.
WATCH: Eyewitness News Reporter Josh Einiger reports from Israel
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