With drawn eyes and a pale face, Tal Georges, 25, queues at the entrance to the emergency department of Soroka hospital in Beersheba to find out if his companion, Yonathan, is hospitalized there. The medical center, the largest in the southern region, is located a few dozen kilometers from Gaza, from where Palestinian Hamas launched an unprecedented offensive against the Jewish state on Saturday.
Friday evening, the couple went to the rave party organized in the fields of Kibbutz Reim, near the border with the Gaza Strip. In the morning, along with hundreds of other young people, they had to flee when rockets fired by Hamas fell into Israel. Tal and his friend then found refuge in a bomb shelter which was quickly surrounded by fighters from the Palestinian Islamist group who had infiltrated Israeli territory.
“I don’t know if he’s alive, dead or kidnapped.”
“There were about 70 people packed inside,” said the 25-year-old from Herzliya, in central Israel. “They threw two grenades inside the shelter and fired at us. My friend was hit, I tried to lift him, but he didn’t react,” she said. run away and left him behind, I had no choice.” Before adding, with tears in his eyes: “His phone is not answering, we tried to locate him. I don’t know if he is alive, if he is dead or if he was kidnapped.”
Hamas fighters who entered several Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip massacred residents and kidnapped at least one hundred men, women and children. According to the latest reports, more than 700 people have been killed in Israel since Saturday morning, and nearly 2,200 others have been injured. “700 were treated at Soroka hospital,” explains Professor Gilbert Sebbag, head of surgery and emergency services.
“We carried out more than 70 operations yesterday with 10 operating rooms working in parallel, and today we continue,” he says, while a few meters away, a military helicopter lands with wounded people on board. In the hospital hall, where a worried hubbub arose, several people mourned their murdered loved ones, while others desperately waited for news.
Itai, 27, hung wanted notices on the walls with photos of his five missing friends. They too ran away from the rave party, but he lost track of them. “I can’t stay at home as if nothing had happened,” says the young man from Tel Aviv. “We are trying to get information, I tried on social networks,” but without success for him. ‘moment. “I hope they are here and that they are alive,” continues Itai, who assures “keep hope”.