01/18
The mood here was still relaxed. On Friday night, visitors celebrated at a festival in Israel.
Anastasia Mamonova Blattmacher Digital
Thousands of people traveled to southern Israel to celebrate an open-air festival in the desert near Kibbutz Re’im. The festival took place on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
But on Saturday morning the festive atmosphere turned into fear of death. When rave music was replaced by rockets and sirens. Palestinian militants not only fired thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel, but also entered Israeli territory to kidnap civilians.
Numerous visitors to the festival were victims of Hamas terrorists. They were surprised by the extremists and were unable to reach safety in time. It is said that some of the attackers paraglided in.
All about attacking Israel
Foreigners also among the dead
One day after the bloody attack, it is clear: the situation on the ground is significantly worse than initially assumed. Not only were the visitors kidnapped, but many of them were also killed on the spot.
Israeli security forces – who have now regained control of the area where the party took place – apparently discovered more than 200 bodies there. Many of the dead are foreign citizens, coming from Norway, the USA, Canada or Germany.
As the investigative platform “Osint Defeder” writes on X, formerly Twitter, citing Israeli sources, 250 bodies were found at the site. The Zaka rescue service confirmed 260 deaths as of Sunday night.
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According to Channel 12, volunteers from a local organization compiled a list of party attendees. Dozens of people are still missing, a volunteer said.
“The streets were blocked”
Videos are circulating on social media showing young people running away. Tal Gably was among them. “We didn’t even have anywhere to hide because we were in an open area,” she told CNN.
“Everyone panicked and started grabbing their things.” When the participants reached their cars and tried to flee, chaos broke out even more. “The streets were blocked. No one could leave. At that moment the shots started to be fired.” Gably and his friends ran for their lives. They arrived at a forest, where they were later picked up by a passing car.
Gili Yoskovich also survived the horror. She told the BBC that she hid under a tree, shivering, for three hours until she was discovered by Israeli soldiers. «I saw that people were dying everywhere. I was very calm. I didn’t cry, I didn’t do anything.” Instead, she had already prepared herself for the fact that she was about to die. “I said to myself, ‘It’s okay, just breathe and close your eyes.'”
Father fears for Noa Argamani
Two other young visitors to the festival were less fortunate than Gably and Yoskovich. Israeli Noa Argamani (25) participated in the festival with her friend Avinatan Or (30). A video shows the woman being kidnapped by Hamas fighters on a motorcycle. She stretches out her arms, begging for help. A few meters further back, her boyfriend is taken away by the militias at gunpoint. It is unclear how the two victims are doing.
Argamani’s father, Jacob Argamani, fears for his son. In an interview with Israeli TV channel Channel 12, he began to cry. “I couldn’t protect her at that moment.”
Is Shani Louk still alive?
German-Israeli Shani Louk (22) was also kidnapped at the festival. A video of her is also circulating. Louk is lying face down in the back of a pickup truck. Surrounded by armed Hamas fighters. His legs are curled up unnaturally. His tattoos are clearly visible. This is exactly what leads to his identification.
“We recognized her by her tattoos,” her mother, Ricarda Louk, tells SPIEGEL. She asked her daughter to go to a bunker on Saturday morning. The 22-year-old then responded that they were “going out in search of a place to shelter.”
After that she didn’t hear anything else. She only recognized her daughter from the kidnapping videos. The young woman’s death has not yet been confirmed. The mother still doesn’t want to give up hope. “She looks unconscious to me,” the mother said of the video. And: “I just don’t want to admit it yet.”
But one thing is certain: the parents have not heard from their daughter since Saturday morning. Her credit card has already been used in the Gaza Strip.
Football players among the dead
One festival visitor whose death has been confirmed, however, is Lior Asulin. The 43-year-old Israeli was a well-known football player. Among other things, he was a striker for Hapoel Tel Aviv. “It is with great sadness that, after many hours of him being reported missing, we learned that our former player Lior Asulin was murdered by terrorists at the party,” said the club.
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The music festival was just one of several venues affected by the attack. As of Sunday afternoon, Israeli authorities reported more than 600 deaths and more than 2,000 injuries. The Israeli government also confirmed that at least 100 people were kidnapped in attacks in the country. Berlin assumes that there are also German citizens among those kidnapped.
There were also deaths on the other side after Israel responded with counterattacks. According to the Ministry of Health, at least 370 people have died in the Gaza Strip so far. Around 2,200 were injured.