COGAT releases shocking footage of Hamas brutality against Gazans
“The shocking footage illustrates how the terrorist organization Hamas oppresses the population, abuses civilians, and uses unrestrained violence against people.”
The IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) on Monday publicized a series of videos of what it said were “Hamas operatives abusing, assaulting, and shooting at Gaza residents.”
COGAT put out the video as Israel and Hamas compete over the global narrative on Gaza, with the terror organization trying to emphasize food insecurity issues, convincing the UN to label them as “famine,” and with Jerusalem trying to remind the world that many Gazans view themselves as prisoners under the authoritarian rule of Hamas.
Calling Hamas, “the embodiment of evil and unrestrained cruelty – to preserve its bloody rule,” the videos released by COGAT mostly showed extensive beatings of tied up men lying on the ground, some with their eyes blindfolded, crying out in pain from being struck with hard objects or from being kicked.
The grainy videos also show some gunshots toward the people being taped.
COGAT reveals video showing Hamas terrorist brutality beating Gazan, August 25, 2025. (credit: COGAT)
Major General Ghassan Alian, addressing the international community on COGAT’s English X page, wrote, “Hamas embodies the essence of evil. The shocking footage illustrates how the terrorist organization Hamas oppresses the population, abuses civilians, and uses unrestrained violence against people in order to maintain its bloody rule and consolidate its power. Hamas once again proves that it does not represent the residents of Gaza – it rules over them with force, fear, and cruelty.”
Hamas’s brutality against Gazan civilians
Hamas does not deny that it beats and kills Gazans, creating many of these kinds of videos and spreading them itself at times in order to spread fear among the population, especially fear of cooperating with Israel and any authority that is not Hamas.
Over the years, Hamas has frequently beaten and killed Gazans affiliated with the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah movement, Hamas’s rival, which governs the West Bank and governed Gaza until Hamas carried out a coup in 2007.
However, Hamas will usually try to portray those being beaten or killed as collaborators or traitors with Israel, trying to avoid drawing attention to its own focus on simply maintaining power.
Hamas is defined by most Western countries as a terror group, especially after October 7, but the sympathy of Western countries with the Gazan public’s food insecurity issues, part of which has been brought on by Hamas, has led there to be far greater attention; lately to criticizing Israel’s policies regarding managing the flow of humanitarian aid, and trying to cut Hamas out of the control of food aid.
