IDF confirms Islamic State flag found on terrorist killed during attack on kibbutz

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

An undated pic on Islamic State flag found on terrorist killed during attack on Kibbutz Sufa (Israel Defense Forces)
An undated pic on Islamic State flag found on terrorist killed during attack on Kibbutz Sufa (Israel Defense Forces)

The military confirms claims that soldiers found a flag of the Islamic State jihadist group on the vest of a terrorist killed during an assault on Kibbutz Sufa, near the Gaza border.

The IDF publishes a picture showing troops holding the flag.

Yesterday, a Telegram channel called South First Responders, which has been distributing shocking footage from scenes on kibbutzim and other areas devastated in Saturday’s attack, published images showing the Islamic State flag.

Israeli officials have repeatedly linked Hamas to IS in the aftermath of the attack, though the comparison is mainly seen as an attempt to explain the enormity of the atrocities and level of depravity as Israel rallies support for its counterattack on the Gaza-based group.

Actual links between Hamas and IS — which has been largely decimated and rendered irrelevant in the last several years — are harder to find. An IS affiliate in the Sinai, Ansar al-Bayt al-Maqdis, is also thought to have few connections with Hamas.

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