Even amid the atrocities of October 7 it stood out as a fleeting moment of chilling horror: A child revelling in the kidnapping and murder of a young woman.
asserted
it → stand → woman
The boy in a red and white T-shirt was among the ordinary crowds in Gaza gleefully celebrating as her lifeless, half-naked, bloodied body was paraded on the back of a pick-up truck.
asserted
body → celebrate → truck
This was 22-year-old Shani Louk, who was one of hundreds of men and women murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the Nova music festival.
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who → murder → festival
Her family were able to recognise her mangled body from the distinctive tattoos on her legs and her long braids.
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family → recognise → legs
The crowd gathered around the truck, beating with their fists on the bodies of this young woman and those of other victims, jeering.
asserted
crowd → gather → victims
Then the boy in the red and white T-shirt, who looked barely into his teenage years, leaned into the truck and spat on Shani's corpse.
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who → look → corpse
Anyone watching could not help but ask: how could a child come to act with such inhumane cruelty?
uncertain
child → watch → cruelty
It is the question on which the future of Gaza and any hope of peace in the region turns.
asserted
future → turn → region
A child pictured training with weapons alongside members of the terrorist organization
There is all too much evidence of how the extremism of Hamas – the proscribed terror group that has been in power for almost 20 years – has captured entire generations, brainwashing them into an extremist ideology that metes out violence, hatred and death.
Worse still, it has done this on the back of British taxpayers' generosity, as over the past two decades hundreds of millions of pounds have flowed from UK governments to the UN body running many of Hamas's schools.
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millions → picture → schools
Now an investigation by The Mail on Sunday has revealed how Hamas, since it gained control of Gaza in 2007, has devoted its education system to indoctrinating children into its jihadist creed.
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it → reveal → creed
Ordinary Gazans have bravely told of the capture of schools, culture and family entertainment venues by Hamas, and how the 'culture of death' has damaged Palestinian society, with children the biggest victims.
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children → tell → society
Some are now speaking out, at huge personal risk, warning that the space for independent education is disappearing and appealing for help before it is too late for another generation of children.
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it → speak → children
Ever since it took power, Hamas has sought to brainwash the minds of the young, through military summer camps, schools and mosques, and its pernicious grip over life in the territory.
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Hamas → take → territory
Shireen (not her real name) is a 29-year-old mother of two who spoke to the MoS from inside Gaza at great risk to herself, describing how she watched the territory change after Hamas seized power and how, years later, she became terrified that the same ideology was reaching into her own home.
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ideology → speak → home
The moment that frightened her most came when her son returned from studying at a mosque.
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son → frighten → mosque
Palestinian text books, controlled by Hamas, have been used to indoctrinate children into its jihadist creed
The woman (left) became known as the lady in red - one of the most hauntingly iconic images from the October 7 massacre
'
asserted
woman → control → massacre
Under Hamas, it became a curriculum of terrorism.
asserted
it → become → terrorism
They teach them terrorism, killing and the path of death.
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They → teach → death
There is extreme racism and they teach them how to kill and how to fight Jews.
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they → be → Jews
'We send children to the mosque to learn religion and the Koran and to become closer to Almighty God.
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We → send → God
I was shocked our children would come back from the mosque knowing about how to die.
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children → shock → mosque
Then came the words from her own young son that left her horrified.
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that → come → her
'He told me, 'When I become a martyr, I will receive houris [an Islamic description of paradise].'
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I → tell → paradise
I wondered how a child his age could have these things in his mind.
uncertain
child → wonder → mind
Horrified, Shireen began teaching him at home.
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Shireen → begin → home
'I don't want him going to the mosque and having ideas about terrorism, death and killing put into his head – how to fight and how to enter paradise.'
But Shireen says another family living nearby had already experienced the nightmare she feared for her own child.
'
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she → want → child
He used to go to the mosque for his education.
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He → use → education
The family lived in eastern Gaza, close to the boundary with Israel.
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family → live → Israel
Palestinian militant groups often encourage people to approach or cross it and, according to Shireen, the teenager was given a weapon and headed towards the border to target Israeli guards.
uncertain
teenager → encourage → guards
People flee the Nova Music Festival after a Hamas attack in Israel on October 7
Israeli army soldiers search the remains of a torched vehicle for forensic evidence at the site of the October 7 attack
'
asserted
soldiers → flee → attack
He was killed,' she says sadly.
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she → kill → ?
An Israeli soldier shot him.
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soldier → shoot → him
Elsewhere, Amin Abed, 40, bears the scars of the terror group's indoctrination of school children.
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Abed → bear → children
He fled Gaza for the UAE after members of the terror militia beat him.
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members → flee → him
Amin witnessed how the educational system was captured by the group's extremist ideology.
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system → witness → ideology
He says: 'When Hamas came to power, the same curriculum continued, while the teaching process gradually began to be adapted to Hamas's ideas, extremism and organisational ideology.'
asserted
process → say → ideas
In 2012/13, Gaza's Hamas-run authorities introduced Al-Futuwwa – translated as 'youth' or 'young manhood' – into government high schools, giving teenage boys weekly military-style instruction alongside their studies.
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authorities → run → studies
The Guardian reported at the time that some 37,000 boys aged 15 to 17 took part in weekly classes involving instructors from the Hamas-controlled security services, with pupils familiarised with Kalashnikov rifles, explosives and other weapons.
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pupils → report → rifles
It was supplemented by voluntary camps where boys received further weapons training.
asserted
boys → supplement → training
Hamas officials defended the scheme as educational and disciplinary, while a Gaza-based human rights group warned it was fostering a 'military culture'.
asserted
it → defend → culture
…and 47 more, not listed.
The Aporia
