According to ZAKA, an Israeli emergency search and rescue agency, at least 260 dead were retrieved at a music event near the Gaza-Israel border after Hamas terrorists hurled grenades and sprayed automatic gunfire at concertgoers early on Oct. 7.
The astounding death toll at this weekend's open-air celebration, known as the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, will be remembered as Israel's deadliest civilian atrocity.
A video circulating on social media appears to show paragliders descending on the gathering in the Negev Desert. A separate video shows concertgoers rushing through an open field while gunshots are fired in the distance.
Festival organizers have stated that they are assisting Israeli security forces in locating participants who are still missing. Communities around the festival grounds were also targeted, with Hamas militants allegedly kidnapping dozens of individuals, including children and disabled residents.
The death toll may grow as teams continue to clean the area, according to officials.
“It was just a massacre, a total massacre,” said Arik Nani, a 26-year-old festivalgoer who escaped the music event where he was celebrating his birthday with friends.
“We didn’t know where to go,” he added. “I found myself with a friend, we found ourselves completely afraid and in shock, we ran just to understand what was happening to us.”
As Israel awoke to the terrifying sound of sirens as a barrage of rockets was fired from Gaza in an unprecedented surprise attack on Oct. 7, concertgoers recalled that terrorists converged on the open-air event, while others waited near bomb shelters to shoot down people seeking refuge.
“I felt like existential fear, I have never felt so close to death, this time I really felt like it was the end,” said Zohar Maariv, a 23-year-old who had to jump out of the car she was escaping in when it came under fire from two sides.
Jos Vranken, a Belgian DJ who was on stage the day before the incident, told VRT News that Hamas initiated the attack while his friends were still there. The 41-year-old said his companions described the horror to him, alleging terrorists lobbed hand grenades into the audience before opening fire. He further claimed that armed guys patrolled one of the entrances and killed anyone who attempted to run.
“Everything was very normal until Hamas suddenly invaded with paragliders, mopeds, and cars,” Mr. Vranken told the news outlet. “I was a few hours away from the festival, but unfortunately I know many people who were still there.”
Mr. Vranken, who is still in Tel Aviv for a few more days, claims that scores of festivalgoers, mostly young women, have been kidnapped and transferred to Gaza.
More information regarding the kidnappings has begun to surface online. In one social media video, a young Israeli woman purportedly named Noa Argamani is pushed onto a motorcycle while pleading with the two guys allegedly abducting her to let her go. The video could not be independently verified by NTD News.
Ms. Argamani's roommate, Amir Moadi, told CNN that she knows approximately a half dozen people who went to the festival and have since gone missing. "It's very difficult when you see someone that is so close to you and you know so much being treated like this," she told me.
Other social media footage shows Hamas terrorists leading some of people kidnapped from the celebration away.
