British newspaper dedicates front page and main headline online to photo distributed by Israeli Foreign Ministry; ‘This is the most difficult photo we have published, our hands are shaking, but everyone needs to know’

The official Twitter account of the Israeli government has posted a distressing image that appears to show a baby murdered by Hamas terrorists. The Telegraph is giving readers the choice of whether they wish to view the image.

The Israeli government has released a graphic photograph that appears to show the body of a baby murdered by Hamas terrorists.

It shows a blood-stained infant, still dressed in a babygrow and nappy, lying inside a small body bag.

The baby’s face has been blurred out. Gloved hands of two Israeli forensic workers in white overalls can be seen in the background.

“This is the most difficult image we’ve ever posted. As we are writing this we are shaking,” the Israeli government’s foreign ministry said in a post on Twitter.

“We went back and forth about posting this, but we need each and every one of you to know. This happened.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, went even further, publishing several other pictures showing the charred remains of infants.

He wrote: “These are horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters. Hamas is inhuman. Hamas is Isis.”

Since the surprise terror attack by Hamas on Saturday, dozens of children are known to have been killed or kidnapped. A total of at least 1,600 people have been killed in Israel so far.

It comes as Israel is pounding Gaza with missiles and troops, while tanks gather for a full ground invasion. The Israeli Air Force said it had so far launched 6,000 bombs in just six days at Gaza.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry said almost 1,500 had been killed, including children.

Mr Netanyahu showed the image of the baby to Anthony Blinken, the United States secretary of state.

Mr Blinken told a press conference: “Images are worth one thousand words, these images may be worth a million.”

The Telegraph was unable to immediately verify the image.

Other world leaders are understood to have been shown similar images in meetings where Israel is privately sharing evidence of the most horrific aspects of Saturday’s atrocity.

Mr Blinken said of the pictures: “It’s hard to find the right words, it’s beyond what anyone would ever want to imagine, much less actually see and God forbid experience.

“A baby, and infants riddled with bullets … Soldiers beheaded, young people burned alive in their cars.

“I could go on but it’s simply depravity in the worst imaginable way, it almost defies comprehension and in the most immediate future harkens back to Isis and some of the things we saw when it was on its rampage, which thankfully was stopped.

“So I think for any human being to see this is really beyond anything we can comprehend or digest.”

He said the terror attack was the “equivalent of 10 9/11s”, adding that Hamas had a “disdain for human life and basic human dignity”.

Of the hostages held captive in Gaza, he said: “There is an unrelenting agony of not knowing the fate of their loved ones, no one should have to endure what they are going through.”

He added that he did not know what Hamas’s goals were in the terror attack, but said: “The simplest explanation might be the most compelling. This is pure evil.”

On Thursday, Rishi Sunak said Israel was the victim of the world’s third-worst terror attack since 1970.

He also sent warships to help prevent any future massacres in Israel and deter Israel’s regional foes, such as Iran, from joining the war.

The Prime Minister said: “At moments like this, when the Jewish people are under attack in their homeland, Jewish people everywhere can feel less safe.

“That is why we must do everything in our power to protect Jewish people everywhere in our country.

“If anything is standing in the way of keeping the Jewish community safe, we will fix it. You have our complete backing.”

Writing in The Telegraph, Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, warned that Iran was trying to provoke Israel into an “over-reaction” against Hamas with the goal of weakening its international support.

Mr Wallace warned: “This awful attack should remind us all what is at stake. Iran will want Israel to over-react. It will want Israel’s actions to stray beyond self-defence under international law.”

On Thursday, Israel launched twin air strikes on Syria’s Aleppo and Damascus airports in an attempt to stem the flow of weapons to Lebanese faction Hizbollah, which the West is trying to deter from joining the war.

The US also moved to block $6 billion (£4.9 billion) in Iranian assets that had been due to be sent to Tehran, Israel’s arch-foe in the region, under a prisoner swap deal.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Foreign Office said it had “temporarily” withdrawn the families of staff at its embassy in Tel Aviv and the consulate in Jerusalem as a “precautionary” measure over escalating regional tension.

In the UK, the Metropolitan Police said it would not ban flying the Palestinian flag at demonstrations ahead of a pro-Palestine rally in London on Saturday.

On Thursday, France banned all pro-Palestine demonstrations, but police later clashed with protesters in Paris.

Nato defence ministers were also shown “harrowing” images of bloodied babies and beheaded victims of the Hamas terror attack by their Israeli counterpart on Thursday.

Yoav Gallant showed them largely uncensored footage of the Islamist group’s massacre of civilians in an attempt to galvanise the alliance’s support for Israel, Western diplomats told The Telegraph.

Sources described how they were left sickened by the images and videos that were “very difficult to watch”.

Sources said that one of the pictures appeared to show the bloodied body of a child killed as Hamas terrorists stormed villages near the border with Gaza.

“It really brought the situation home,” said another source.

Most of the victims had their faces blurred to protect their dignity. It is not known if the diplomats were shown the image released publicly.

In a speech to his Nato counterparts, Mr Gallant said: “I walked from house to house. And saw the bodies of our pioneers, the Holocaust survivors, burned alive. Children were tied up and shot. Yes, I repeat – children tied up and shot.

“Young girls were raped violently, and kidnapped or killed. They were dragged to Gaza, to the sound of cheering, while blood was dripping down their legs.

“A peace music festival, with 3,000 young people, became a bloodbath. Dozens of citizens from your countries have been murdered or kidnapped.”

In a statement after their one-hour meeting with Mr Gallant, Nato allies said they “condemned the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel”.

Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary-general, said: “Israel has the right to defend itself, and as the conflict unfolds, the protection of civilians is essential. Israel does not stand alone.”

Earlier reports of child casualties in the Hamas massacre had suggested babies and/or children had been beheaded by Hamas.

On Wednesday night, Joe Biden, the US president, said: “I never really thought that I would see, have confirmed, pictures of terrorists beheading children.”

The White House later clarified that Mr Biden had not seen such evidence and was basing his remarks on Israeli media reports and comments by the Israeli government.

Israeli military officials have previously said that small children were killed in the Hamas massacre, but this is the first time that photographic evidence of a baby’s murder has been published.

Israeli military officials have also confirmed that babies and children were indeed murdered – and beheaded – during the Hamas massacre. They have identified the scene of that crime as Be’eri, a small kibbutz in southern Israel.

Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israeli Defence Forces, said: “We got very, very disturbing reports that came from the ground that there were babies that had been beheaded.

“And I admit it took us some time to really understand and to verify that report and it was hard to believe that even Hamas could perform such a barbaric act.

“But after eyewitnesses came forward, and after a senior official in the Israeli coronary service Zaka came forward on record on CBS News and said ‘yes, I saw the bodies of beheaded babies’, I think we can now say with relative confidence that this is unfortunately what happened in Be’eri. This is what Hamas did to Israeli citizens.”

Mr Netanyahu has compared Hamas to the Islamic State (IS) in recent days. The IS terror group revelled in circulating brutal videos of hostages dressed in Guantanamo-style orange jumpsuits, including UK citizens, being beheaded.

The Israeli government has declared a “total siege” of Gaza, cutting off all food, water and energy supplies, intended to starve Hamas ahead of a ground invasion – but also civilians trapped inside the Strip.

On Thursday, Israeli warplanes targeted the bases of the Nukhba commando force in Hamas, as well as a series of intelligence services buildings.

But the morgue at Gaza’s biggest hospital overflowed on Thursday, as bodies came in faster than relatives could claim them.

Medics in the besieged enclave said they ran out of places to put remains pulled from the latest strikes or recovered from under the ruins of demolished buildings.

“The body bags started and just kept coming and coming and now it’s a graveyard,” said Abu Elias Shobaki, a nurse at Shifa at Gaza City’s Shifa hospital.

“I am emotionally, physically exhausted. I just have to stop myself from thinking about how much worse it will get.”

Israel said it would not restore power or water to Gaza until some 150 hostages kidnapped in the Hamas raids were released.

Mr Blinken also told Mr Netanyahu that Israel must “take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians” in the siege of Gaza.

On the border with Gaza, The Telegraph witnessed Israeli artillery shelling on Gaza amid an ongoing build-up of troops and heavy armour.

Outgoing artillery fire could be heard at regular intervals near Re’im, about three miles from the Gaza border, on Thursday afternoon.

Thick white smoke rose rising from the southern part of the Gaza strip and a surveillance drone could be seen circling the region.

Lt Col Richard Hecht, the IDF’s international spokesman, said Israel had “more or less” sealed the border, but refused to rule out the possibility that Hamas teams were either still infiltrating across or had remained behind and avoided capture.

Israeli troops briefly closed a road in the area and gunfire was heard after unconfirmed reports of a fresh infiltration mid-afternoon.

The Telegraph later saw soldiers fire warning shots at a man seen in trees near the site of the festival. They forced him to remove his clothes at gunpoint to prove he was unarmed.

A military officer said the troops had acted because the man was “suspicious”, but refused to speculate on whether he was a terrorist.

It is understood that at least 100 people in Britain have already travelled to Israel to serve in the Israeli army ahead of an invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli embassy in London said they were “reservists and active duty soldiers”. The number is said to include a British neurosurgeon and a US helicopter pilot.

Despite fears that Israel’s enemies could open a new front from Lebanon or Syria in the near future, a US spokesman said on Thursday that so far they had seen no indication that Hizbollah was amassing forces on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Britain, the US and European allies have warned Hizbollah not to join the war. This week, a US aircraft carrier and a number of warships were moved closer to Israel in an attempt to deter Iran and its proxy forces from getting involved.

The US strongly suspects Iran had advance knowledge of the Hamas massacre and approved of it, but was not directly involved.

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, held a meeting with the King of Jordan on Thursday in which he condemned the killing of civilians and hostage-taking.

On Thursday, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, approved the formation of an emergency unity government to aid efforts in the war effort.

The King also held talks with Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the UK Chief Rabbi, at Buckingham Palace as he expressed concern about the “barbaric acts of terrorism” in Israel and sought to reassure Jews in Britain.

On Thursday, G7 central bank governors and finance ministers, including Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, and Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, “unequivocally” condemned the “terror attacks” on Israel by Hamas.

However, the release of the G7 communiqué by the club of rich countries was delayed by an hour after Japan expressed concerns about the language used in the joint statement.

Japan currently holds the G7 presidency. Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, also opted not to join a statement this week signed by Mr Sunak condemning “appalling acts of terrorism” by Hamas.

“They were worried about looking like they were showing unconditional support for Israel,” said one source about the G7 communique delay.

Japan has advocated a two-state solution that envisions an independent Palestinian nation coexisting with Israel.