A former U.S. Senate candidate from Greenwich just returned from the Israeli front lines, where she was granted rare access to areas targeted by Hamas terrorists.

Leora Levy led a group of Republican National Committee leaders on a “painful” three-day tour.

"It was shocking, but we had to see it,” she said. “There was a smell of death. It was still lingering.”

In Connecticut, Levy is best known for unsuccessfully challenging Sen. Richard Blumenthal last year – despite an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. She said the Israel trip is not a step toward running for Congress again, but is an effort to sway lawmakers for continued military aid.

“The people who died there can no longer speak for themselves,” Levy said. “So I’m here as their voice.”

RNC leaders met top Israeli Defense Forces officials, viewed nearly an hour of raw footage of the Hamas attacks and toured neighborhoods where terrorists murdered entire families on Oct. 7.

“We saw utter devastation and destruction of people's homes,” Levy said. “Just [like] the way we live here in Connecticut.”

In recent days, victims have also accused Hamas of rape and torture.

“She’s not dressed and he cuts her breast,” one victim said in footage released by the Israeli government. “He throws it on the road and they are playing with it.”

Israeli officials say Hamas is still holding 138 hostages. The group released dozens of captives during a temporary cease-fire that ended Dec. 1.

Since the attack, Israeli forces have pummeled the Gaza Strip, killing an estimated 16,000 Palestinians and displacing more than two million more, according to Gaza Health Ministry figures. Aid agencies call it a humanitarian crisis.

“It’s chaotic,” said Hisham Mhanna, with the International Red Cross. “It’s panic. It's constant fear.”

Israeli is facing growing calls for another cease-fire. On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took the rare step of formally warning the Security Council of a global threat from the war in Gaza.

Hospitals in Gaza, which Israel says have been used to conceal Hamas military operations, are overrun.

“The situation is bad,” said Dr. Muhammad Ahmed Al-Qudra, an emergency physician at Nasser Medical Complex. “We are receiving cases of serious injuries that require amputations, neurosurgery, general surgery.”

Despite the crisis, Levy said the only way to prevent the atrocities she witnessed is to completely exterminate Hamas – and crack down on its Iranian backers.

“I am sorry for every innocent death, but … no other country in the world would be expected to live with this on their border,” she said.