Abandoned cars underline panic at Israeli music festival where Hamas gunmen killed hundreds
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People at a dance party flee during a surprise attack launched by Hamas, near Kibbutz Reim in Israel, on Oct 7, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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JERUSALEM – Hundreds of cars abandoned in the scramble to flee a massacre at an Israeli music festival
Drone footage taken in the aftermath of the attack in last Saturday's early hours shows cars left by the roadside – near Kibbutz Reim close to Gaza from which Hamas launched its shock assault
"It was just a massacre, a total massacre," said 26-year-old Arik Nani who escaped from the dance party, where he was celebrating his birthday, after hiding for hours in a field.
"We didn't know where to go," he told Reuters. "I found myself with a friend. We found ourselves completely afraid and in shock, we ran just to understand what was happening to us."
Thousands of young people attended the Nature Party, which became one of the first targets of Palestinian gunmen who breached Gaza's border fence under the cover of massive rocket barrages from Gaza.
Video footage circulating on social media shows the gunmen descending in paragliders on the gathering in the Negev Desert.
"I felt like existential fear, I have never felt so close to death. This time I really felt like it was the end," said 23-year-old Zohar Maariv, who had to jump out of the car she was escaping in when it came under fire from two sides.
At least 700 Israelis were killed and dozens more were abducted
Israeli emergency services said 260 bodies had been recovered from the site of the festival.
Other social media footage shows some of those taken captive from the party being led away by jubilant gunmen.
"I live on the Gaza border and I've seen things in my life, but I've never felt it this close," Ms Maariv said. REUTERS
