European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday toured Israel's Kfar Aza, one of the places devastated by Hamas terrorists on Saturday.
Wearing bulletproof vests, the two leaders of the European institutions were taken to the site where everything began and briefed by members of Israel’s Yeheza Unit.
In a brief message, Metsola told the Israelis: “We are here to show universal solidarity. We wanted to come... We are seeing hatred and the elimination of life in the most brutal and atrocious manner.”
The two women were told that the place they were at was a live village full of families only a week ago. They were shown a house where two women were found shot in the head, naked, with their hands tied behind their backs.
Later, the two European leaders also visited a site in Re'im, where militants opened fire on people at a music festival, killing over 250 civilians.
Both von der Leyen and Metsola have been outspoken in their support for Israel, accusing Hamas of carrying out an anti-Semitic massacre of innocent civilians.
"October 7 is a day that will go down in global infamy," Metsola said on Wednesday at a Brussels tribute ceremony to the Israeli dead.
"The world has witnessed Jews being murdered simply because they were Jewish. Again. In Israel," she said.
Earlier, von der Leyen had told her commission colleagues: "These innocents were killed for one single reason. For being Jewish and living in the State of Israel.
"It is an ancient evil, which reminds us of the darkest past and shocks all of us to the core," she said.
Hamas militants on October 7 shocked Israel by breaching its southern border and killing more than 1,300 people, including children, the elderly and revellers at an electronic music festival.
Even before an expected ground operation, Israel has killed at least 1,799 people in strikes in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack and has cut off food, water and electricity.
In the latest developments, AFP correspondents and a security official reported clashes in Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarem, Hebron and other cities.