Israeli rescue service Zaka reportedly recovered at least 260 bodies from a desert rave in the southern region of Israel after Hamas launched a full-scale terrorist attack on the country over the weekend.
#BREAKING ZAKA emergency services search and recovery operations says at least 260 bodies of various nationalities were found at the site of the desert rave party that was massacred by Hamas terrorists on Saturday morning and another 50 or more have been kidnapped into Gaza.
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) October 8, 2023
“It was a massacre,” Yaniv, an emergency medic, told Kan News. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. It was a planned ambush. As people came out of the emergency exits, squads of terrorists were waiting for them there and just started picking them off.”
Thousands of festival-goers were attending an all-night outdoor music festival called Supernova, also described as a peace party, near Kibbutz Re’im close to the Gaza Strip when video captured showed dozens running through an open field as terrorists began gunning them down.
WARNING: Disturbing Content.
🚨UPDATES: HAMAS ATTACK ISRAELI RAVE PARTY
🚨HUNDREDS MISSING, POSSIBLY KIDNAPPED
🚨FEMALE SOLDIER PARADED WAS NOT A SOLDIERThe raid into Israel this morning started with a brutal attack on an all-night nature party near Kibbutz Re'im, close to the Gaza Strip.
It has been… pic.twitter.com/mGcjBC4tDl
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 8, 2023
Zaka officials reportedly said they expect the number of bodies recovered to increase as other paramedic teams provide support.
An eyewitness who goes by Ortel told local media she noticed something was wrong when a rocket warning siren went off early Saturday morning, immediately followed by gunshots.
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“They turned off the electricity, and suddenly, out of nowhere, they come inside with gunfire, opening fire in every direction,” she told Israel’s Channel 12. “Fifty terrorists arrived in vans, dressed in military uniforms.”
Shani Louk, a German-Israeli citizen whose half-naked body Hamas terrorists paraded in the back of a pick-up truck in a viral online video, was also in attendance at the outdoor event before her abduction, German officials reportedly said.
Videos circulating on social media showed Hamas terrorists sitting on her in the back of the vehicle as supporters chanted “Allahu akbar,” a phrase used by Muslims in prayers meaning “God is most great.”
Her mother, Ricarda Louk, reportedly published a video saying she recognized her daughter and asked the public for help.
“This morning, my daughter, Shani Nicole Louk, a German citizen, was kidnapped with a group of tourists in southern Israel by Palestinian Hamas,” Louk said. “We were sent a video in which I could clearly see our daughter unconscious in the car with the Palestinians and them driving around the Gaza Strip. I ask you to send us any help or any news. Thank you very much.”
It’s unknown if she survived the attack, but her family told The Washington Post that the family “still have some kind of hope” she is still alive.
“Hamas is responsible for her and the others,” Louk said.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, the international spokesperson for the Israeli army, told The Independent that the attack is “unlike anything we have ever seen.”
“There is a deep concern for the wellbeing and lives of the hostages. At this stage, I don’t think anyone can guarantee they will be returned alive. We do not know who is alive and who is dead.”
More than 700 Israelis have been confirmed dead, and at least 2,500 have been injured following the attacks from Hamas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed Israel will take “mighty vengeance for this wicked day.”