The attack launched by the Palestinian extremist organization Hamas from the Gaza Strip into Israel yesterday Saturday has claimed numerous civilian casualties.
By Sunday afternoon, more than 600 Israelis are known to have died and 2,000 injured, most of them civilian victims. Many civilians have also been taken hostage.
Israel’s counterattacks on Gaza have also claimed both military and civilian casualties. More than 300 Palestinians have already died and almost 2,000 have been injured.
Hamas hit the bullseye
On Saturday morning, Hamas and other Palestinian militants launched a coordinated surprise attack from the Gaza Strip towards several Israeli settlement centers and military targets.
A few kilometers away from the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel, in the vicinity of the Reim kibbutz, an all-night rave, or electronic music festival, was taking place. On Sunday evening, Israel’s rescue service Zaka reported that at least 260 bodies have been found in the festival area.
Several hundred festival participants were mainly young adults from many different countries. Hamas soldiers deliberately targeted the celebrants as one of the targets of the attack.
A video shot on a mobile phone from the festival has been shared on social media, showing armed men landing on the festival grounds with parachutes. In addition, for example, the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC has shared a video of partygoers running away in the desert.
News channel CNN’s the attackers also took partygoers hostage.
A survivor from the ravages to safety Gili Yoskovich comment for the BBChow he managed to escape alive.
– They were suddenly everywhere with automatic weapons, says Yoskovich.
– The terrorists came from four or five directions. We didn’t know where to go. I got into my car and drove a bit. Some were shooting at me, so I left the car and started running.
– I noticed a place with pomelo trees and went there. They went from tree to tree and fired from both sides. I saw people dying around me. I was very quiet. I didn’t cry, I didn’t do anything, Yoskovich describes his experience.
Yoskovich eventually managed to hide for more than three hours, after which Israeli army soldiers arrived.
– The craziest thing is how long we were there and no one came. Not the army, not the police, nothing, Yoskovich tells the BBC.
Not everyone heard the shots immediately
Survived the ravages to safety Hen Mizrachi told Israel’s public broadcaster IPBC that many revelers did not hear the opening fire at first because the music was loud.
– There was an alarm, but no one noticed. The music was loud. People didn’t hear the alarm, says Mizrachi.
The father of the boy who was at the party Mencahem Sally told IPBC that the boy who contacted him said that he fled the area in a car and that the attackers were also in the middle of the highway.
Sally’s son eventually made it to his father alive.
Exceptionally brutal attacks on civilians
The attack on the music festival is just one example among many of Hamas’ deliberate attacks on civilians.
Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said the news channel today on Sunday for al-Jazeerathat Hamas interprets all Israeli “settlers” as part of Israel’s armed forces.
– They are not civilians, Hamdan said.
Hamas has been actively sharing footage of exceptionally brutal attacks on civilians on social media. According to the AP news agency, several Israelis have tried yesterday and today to find their missing loved ones in videos circulating online, so that they could find out if the missing people are possibly dead or taken hostage.
Israelis living near the border of the Gaza Strip are used to frequent air strikes, but yesterday, Saturday, Palestinian extremist groups attacked outside Gaza by land for the first time, something the residents were not prepared for.
Israel’s own WTC moment
The surprise of yesterday’s attack has been compared to the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, when members of the extreme Islamic terrorist organization Al-Qaeda attacked several targets in the United States with hijacked airplanes. Almost 3,000 people died in the attack, and the atmosphere of fear of new attacks remained strong among the American people for the next few years.
Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Helsinki Hannu Juusola said on Sunday morning in Uutisten’s special broadcast that the attacks of September 11 and the surprise attack by Hamas have a lot in common from the point of view of shocking the people.
– This feeling of insecurity unites them, Juusola said.
According to Juusola, the Prime Minister of Israel has Benjamin Netanyahu also faces similar pressure to respond with force as the then US president George W. Bush experienced after the 9/11 attacks.
According to Juusola, the attack by Hamas is also so destructive that Israel is no longer able to implement its old policy towards Gaza and Hamas, because the people demand tough measures.
– The government must find a new way to solve the Gaza problem from their point of view. It’s not an easy question, Juusola said.
Source: AP
8.10. at 23:44 Updated information on the number of bodies found in the festival area.