The terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel with unprecedented coordination and severity. Hundreds of people were kidnapped, raped or murdered during a music festival in the border area. Survivors and those left behind report the hours when the air was no longer filled with music but with bullets. A reconstruction.
Saturday morning at the Supernova Festival. People dance. Still. The celebration, marketed by organizers as “a journey of unity and love,” has no end. Thousands of young people had registered for the party in a place that ‘strikes for its beauty’.
Terrorists came from the air and in vans
Where exactly it was was only announced on Friday evening, a few hours before the start. The choice fell on Kibbutz Re’im, a few kilometers from the border with the Gaza Strip. When the first rays of sunshine reached the festival grounds, black dots could be seen in the sky. Dots that grew larger by the second.
They were motorized paragliders from the terrorist group Hamas. The location information must also have reached them. The rhythm of the music mixed with gunfire as Palestinian militants stormed the festival. A siren went off warning of incoming missiles, and more shots followed. “Code Red, we are under attack!” Moments later, vans rushed onto the site. Filled with terrorists in military uniforms, survivors report.
Within moments, a party venue became a death trap. One festivalgoer explained that the rocket noise initially sounded “like part of the music.” Then he and his friends “felt the bullets flying around us,” he told Israeli television channel Channel 12.
Survivors describe their struggles
By then it should have been clear to everyone: this was a terrorist attack. Mass panic breaks out among the visitors. “It happened in the blink of an eye. The terrorists arrived on the right side of the road and then got out of a large white vehicle, a type of van. They shot at close range, it was terrible,” survivor Liran told the Ynet news site. Images on social media match the descriptions.
This video shows people trying to leave the area in panic:
Survivors also shared online their experience of Hamas’s attack on the Supernova Festival. Arik Nani describes how she spent hours trying to get to safety. “We ran to the fields and heard constant fire behind us, saw people running and falling,” says the young woman, who celebrates her 26th birthday this week. “We hid in the bushes while bullets flew over our heads.”
She will spend the holidays sad, but grateful. “I didn’t think I would make it.” She ran for six hours, dehydrated and with an injured hand, until she managed to reach an emergency shelter.
Other eyewitnesses reported trying to escape in cars and coming under fire. Visitors also hid in bushes and trees. “They went from tree to tree and shot. I saw people dying everywhere. I was very quiet. I didn’t cry, I didn’t do anything,” one survivor told the BBC.
Footage from cameras on parked cars shows the last minutes of injured festival goers. They are all shot in cold blood by members of the terrorist organization Hamas. Out of respect for the deceased, we will not show you the material, which is also available via krone.at, in its entirety.
Friends and relatives of the victims are now demanding answers. How could that happen? And more importantly, did my loved ones survive?
Where is my daughter?
“I don’t know if my daughter is bleeding somewhere, I don’t know if she was taken to Gaza, I don’t know if she is suffering,” Ahuwa Maizel told the German Press Agency on Monday. The last time she spoke to her daughter was shortly after seven o’clock on Saturday morning. Shortly afterwards the first black dots appeared in the sky.
Ahuwa Maizel’s daughter Adi called and said: “There is a massacre here, they are causing a massacre, hundreds of terrorists are shooting.” Then the connection was lost. “If anyone is holding her captive, please remain human. We all have the same DNA, we are all just human,” Maizel says through tears.
The uncertainty is unbearable. Innocent people should not be abused for political purposes. “Don’t let this become another Holocaust.”
According to the Zaka rescue service, 260 people have been killed on the festival site alone. Paramedics reported unimaginable scenes at the scene. The bodies were removed from the site in different trucks. According to Israeli media, numerous women were raped before being murdered or kidnapped.
22-year-old German Shani Nicole Louk has unfortunately become famous in recent hours. Photos of her kidnapping are circulating online. Her mother was able to identify her by her tattoos (see tweet above). The young woman with dreadlocks lies almost naked and lifeless in the back of a pick-up truck, surrounded by armed men.
A boy spits on her.
Shani’s aunt told Spiegel that she had dual citizenship growing up in Israel. However, as a ‘convinced pacifist’ she was repeatedly insulted. She was so exuberant and happy, says her aunt, who says she received a selfie from her niece shortly before the start of the festival.
A few hours later, other images went around the world. That of a tormented Shani Louk. There has been no sign of life since.
More than 100 civilians kidnapped
According to official information, more than 100 civilians were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip in Hamas’ major attack, which targeted several locations in the border area, including women, babies, small children and grandparents. It is expected that this number could be considerably higher.
The terrorists raged unhindered in the border towns, sometimes for hours. Residents report that the Israeli army was initially taken completely by surprise and only appeared in some towns hours later. Meanwhile, a massacre took place – and the music turned into pure hatred.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
