Hundreds of cars abandoned in the scramble to flee a massacre at an Israeli music festival where Hamas gunmen killed 260 people and took captives back into Gaza underline the scale of the deadliest attack on Israel in decades.
Drone footage taken in the aftermath of the attack in Saturday's early hours shows cars left at the roadside, near Kibbutz Re'im close to Gaza from which Hamas launched its shock assault, many destroyed or pockmarked with bullet impacts.
"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 early on Saturday under 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 into Gaza in scenes that have left a profound shock on a country which had long prided itself on its ultra-efficient military and security services.
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," Maariv said.
Irish-Israeli citizen Kim Damti is still missing after attending the festival.
In an interview with ABC News, her mother Jennifer Damti, originally from Portlaoise, said her daughter had phoned them shortly after.
The Israeli government says Hamas militants have kidnapped more than 100 people, many of them now in Gaza. Children, grandmothers and young people are reportedly among the hostages. @JamesAALongman reports from Israel. https://t.co/8oqvihiywm pic.twitter.com/J9vwsjSbfz
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) October 8, 2023
“Kim didn’t realise there was like seven or eight Toyota vans full of terrorists and they just shot everywhere,” she said.
“They just shot them, slaughtered them like ducks, and that’s the reason I’m here, ’cause I want the world to condemn this behaviour.
“I didn’t bring my children up to hate anybody.
“You can’t sleep. All I can think about is where she is, if she’s suffering, if she’s still alive. I just want her back,” she said.
“So many other mothers here today. I’m not the only one. Everybody is missing somebody.”
