BEIRUT: A clip which appears to show an Israeli Defense Force soldier celebrating his daughter’s second birthday by detonating a house in Gaza went viral across websites and social media on Saturday.
“I dedicate this explosion to my daughter ‘princess Ayala’ on her birthday as she turns two today,” the IDF soldier is heard saying in Hebrew in the 43-second undated, unverified video that was shared and posted thousands of times by Internet users.
Different media outlets, in Arabic and English, reported the soldier had obtained a permission from the Israeli army before he blew up a Palestinian family’s home, an entire building, in Gaza.
“I miss you,” he is also heard as telling his daughter.
In the video, several IDF servicemen are seen surrounding the unnamed soldier while he gives “directions” to detonate the building.
The clip shows more than four IDF members surrounding the soldier who knelt down to the ground, picked up a walkie talkie phone and said: “Here is the reception station … in 10 seconds.”
All the soldiers start the countdown in Hebrew, and when they reach zero, a loud blast is heard while the video shows a building being detonated in the background.
The footage has prompted condemnation and criticism online as it happened during the ongoing war between IDF and Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip.
An X user said: “While the pathetic shameless world watches helplessly! Criminals!”
Another wrote: “Israel is a terrorist state.”
IDF soldier celebrates daughter’s 2nd birthday by detonating Gaza building
https://arab.news/y2k5g
IDF soldier celebrates daughter’s 2nd birthday by detonating Gaza building
- ‘I dedicate this explosion to my daughter ‘princess Ayala’ on her birthday as she turns two today,’ IDF soldier heard saying in clip
- Building was reportedly home to Palestinian family
US announces start of effort to ‘eliminate Daesh fighters’ and weapons sites in Syria following deaths of Americans
- “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says
- President Trump earlier pledged “very serious retaliation” but stressed that Syria was fighting alongside US troops
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced the start of an operation to “eliminate Daesh fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites” in Syria following the deaths of three US citizens.
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” he said Friday on social media.
Two Iowa National Guard members and a US civilian interpreter were killed Dec. 13 in an attack in the Syrian desert that the Trump administration has blamed on the Daesh group. The slain National Guard members were among hundreds of US troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.
Soon after word of the deaths, President Donald Trump pledged “very serious retaliation” but stressed that Syria was fighting alongside US troops. Trump has said Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack” and the shooting attack by a gunman came as the US military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.
A US official told The Associated Press that the attack was conducted using F-15 Eagle jets, A-10 Thuderbolt ground attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said more strikes should be expected.
When asked for further information, the Pentagon referred AP to Hegseth’s social media post.
White House officials noted that Trump had made clear that retaliation was coming.
“President Trump told the world that the United States would retaliate for the killing of our heroes by Daesh in Syria, and he is delivering on that promise,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement.
Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring US service members killed in action.
The guardsmen killed in Syria on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the US Army. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a US civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed.
