Festival massacre as rescuers find 260 bodies at site where revellers 'first realised something was wrong when a siren started going off before Hamas cut the power and started opening fire'
At least 600 people have been killed in Israel since Hamas launched its attack
By Eirian Jane Prosser
Daily Mail
Oct 8, 2023
Young Israelis at a music festival near the Gaza Strip flee from Hamas terrorists
The Israeli rescue service Zaka tonight said at least 260 bodies have been removed from the festival site.
At least 260 bodies have been found by rescuers after Hamas opened fire on Israeli partygoers at a music festival near the Gaza Strip yesterday morning, with emergency workers calling the scene a 'massacre'.
Terrified festivalgoers first realised something was wrong when a siren began blaring at dawn warning of rockets. Hamas terrorists then cut the electricity before firing rockets and blasting gunshots from jeeps they drove onto the site.
Yesterday Israel suffered its deadliest attack in decades, as Hamas rampaged through the country's towns reportedly killing 700 people and abducting dozens more.
A senior Hamas official said tonight that the militant group is holding more than 100 people captive following its attack on Israel. In the last 24 hours fierce fighting has broken out killing and wounding thousands of people on both sides.
The Israeli rescue service Zaka tonight said at least 260 bodies have been removed from the festival site.
Music lovers attending the Supernova Festival were amongst those targeted, with Palestinian militants storming onto the site of the all-night trance music rave near Kibbutz Re'im, close to the Gaza Strip, as part of its surprise attack.
Yaniv, an emergency worker who was amongst those medics who raced to the scene told public broadcaster Kan News he saw 'at least 200 bodies of Israelis in the area'.
He said: 'There are at least 200 bodies of Israelis in the area I was in. It was a massacre.
'I've never seen anything like it in my life. It was a planned ambush. As people came out of the emergency exits, squads of terrorists were waiting for them there and just started picking them off.'
Video footage shows the terrified youngsters, mostly in their 20s and 30s, fleeing on foot over the sand to their cars, screaming as shots are fired. Some are seen holding hands as they run away while others shout 'go, go, go'.
One partygoer named Ortel said the rockets fired were quickly followed by gunshots being fired from jeeps full of gunmen.
She told the BBC: 'They turned off the electricity and suddenly out of nowhere they [militants] come inside with gunfire, opening fire in every direction.
'Fifty terrorists arrived in vans, dressed in military uniforms. They fired bursts, and we reached a point where everyone stopped their vehicles and started running.'
Sitting on the back of a terrorist's motorcycle, her outstretched arms pointing towards her helpless boyfriend, student Noa Argamani pleads for her life
Along with hundreds of other young Israelis, Noa (pictured) and Avi had been enjoying a peace festival in the desert when they were forced to flee for their lives
Israelis could be heard shouting, running, and hurriedly getting into cars as they attempt to escape
As people tried to run through the sand or drive off in their cars, more shots were fired.
Ortel said she hid in a bush where she watched 'masses of wounded people thrown around'.
Meanwhile festival-goer Adam Barel told Haaretz that while they had been aware of the chance of rocket fire, the gunshots came as a shock.
He told the Israeli newspaper that he was among those fleeing to their cars but shots were being fired so he decided it was better to run. 'People were hit. We hid. Everyone ran somewhere else,' he said.
Amongst those hiding was Gili Yoskovich, who was forced to shelter beneath a fruit tree in the middle of a field shaking for three hours as bullets flew past her. She hid until she heard people speaking Hebrew and was rescued by Israeli soldiers.
The mother described how young people - whose night celebrating the end of the Sukkot religious holiday had turned to terror - were dying all around her and on the road as Hamas militants went 'tree to tree' on a killing spree.
'I saw people were dying all around. I was very quiet. I didn't cry, I didn't do anything,' she told the BBC.
'I was... breathing, saying: 'OK, I'm going to die. It's OK, just breathe, just close your eyes'.'
A number of people who attended the peaceful festival in the desert, that coincided with the Jewish festival of Sukkot, are missing - including Noa Argamani and her boyfriend Avi Nathan.
Smoke and flames billow after Israeli forces struck a high-rise tower in Gaza City, October 7
Fire and smoke rise in Gaza City following an Israeli airstrike on Sunday October 8
Last night it was also reported that Doron Asher, 34, was taken hostage by Hamas gunmen and held captive in Gaza
Heartbreaking footage showed the 25-year-old student screaming 'Don't kill me! N, no, no' as she was forced onto the back of a motorcycle just metres away from her helpless boyfriend who was held at gunpoint. Both remain missing.
Widely shared on social media, the footage of Noa's kidnapping is almost too distressing to bear. 'Imagine what it is like for her family,' said her university roommate, Amir Moadi.
They found out she had been snatched only when they chanced upon the footage online.
Earlier today her inconsolable father, Yaacov Argamani, sobbed as he voiced his fears for her safety, saying: 'she was so petrified, so scared'.
Speaking through tears, he said: 'I was hoping this is a mistake that it's not true. And then in the hospital a guy asked me if I wanted to see. I said yes and then I know for sure it is Noa... she was so petrified, so scared.'
He then begins to uncontrollably sob. 'I was always so protective but in this moment I couldn't protect her,' he told Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 News.
'All my life since she was born I have tried to protect and hug her, support and love her. I wish I could at this difficult moment at least encourage her or say something to her.'
Noa's aunt, Yaffe Ohad, said they were 'crazy with worry'. She said: 'We know that Noa was kidnapped, probably in the hours of the beginning of the fighting.'
A terrified Gili Yoskovich hid under a tree for three hours as Hamas militants opened fire on defenceless festivalgoers near Kibbutz Re'im, close to the Gaza Strip
German tattoo artist named Shani Louk, 30, was in Israel to attend a peace rave
Fire and smoke rise following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Sunday after the militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel
Israeli soldiers are pictured at the southern Israeli town of Ofakim on Sunday
Israeli civilians were purportedly taken off the street and driven back into Gaza
Avi's brother Moshe also first heard of his brother going missing after seeing the video on social media.
He told Channel 12: 'We knew that my brother Avinathan and his girlfriend Noa Argamani were at the party and we started to worry.
'Their phones were unavailable and after a few hours an emergency team contacted us and said they had seen a video of them being kidnapped in the direction of the Strip.'
Moshe said he found the video on social media seeing his brother, who he described as 'a big guy', being held by five people who were he presumed were taking 'him towards the strip'.
The fears of Noa and Avi's relatives are mirrored in the faces of countless other families who have no idea where their loved ones are alive or whether they are safe after being taken hostage by terrorists.
One of those captured at the festival was 30-year-old German tattoo artist Shani Louk.
Her lifeless, half-naked body was paraded on the back of a Hamas pick-up trick as militants sat on top of her and jeered following the violent incursion.
She filmed splayed in the back of a truck, with one leg at an unnatural angle, terrorists sitting around it and supporters of the group cheering, running alongside and spitting on her.
Hamas said the body was a female Israeli soldier but last night it was confirmed to be Shani by her cousin Tomasina Weintraub-Louk.
Tomasina told DailyMail.com that the family recognized her distinctive leg tattoos and dreadlocked hair.
Her mother, Ricarda, released a heartbreaking video begging for help to find out what happened to her daughter.
Holding a picture of Shani on her mobile phone, she said: 'This morning my daughter, Shani Nicole Louk, a German citizen, was kidnapped with a group of tourists in southern Israel by Palestinian Hamas.
Hamas had claimed the body in the truck was a female Israeli soldier - but it was last night confirmed to be tourist Shani by her cousin Tomasina Weintraub-Louk
Shocking footage shared on social media appears to show Palestinian fighters parading Shani's naked body on the back of a pick-up truck
Shani's mother, Ricarda, holds up a picture of her daughter on her mobile phone in an emotional video appeal begging for help to find out what happened to her daughter
'We were sent a video in which I could clearly see our daughter unconscious in the car with the Palestinians and them driving around the Gaza Strip.
'I ask you to send us any help or any news. Thank you very much.'
Last night it was also reported that Doron Asher, 34, and her two daughters, Raz, five, and Aviv, three, were among Israeli civilians taken hostage by Hamas gunmen and held captive in Gaza.
As the search continues to find the missing, the death toll in Israel has risen to 700, according to Israeli media sites, with 2,300 being injured. More than 300 have been killed in Gaza as Israeli airstrikes pound the territory.
ADDENDUM: More pictures
Israeli festivalgoers run for their lives through the desert after being warned of an incoming rocket attack just as Hamas invaded the country on Saturday
Bloodied bodies were stacked in tents while they await identification
Bodies were seen piled up in refrigerated trucks following the massacre
No comments:
Post a Comment