The Hamas October 7th Terrorist Incursion Into Israel: A Survivor’s Account
Foreign Policy Brief #94 | By: Ester Avisror | October 19, 2023
Photo taken from: usnews.com
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This is another in a seies of profiles of the particpoants affected by the conflict between Israel and Hamas
On Saturday, October 7th, 2023, at about 6:30am, attendees at the NOVA rave celebrated life, music, and friendship in Re’im, Israel – until they faced unspeakable trauma. Young women and men faced the raw alarm of death, as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists arrived in vans and motorcycles, firing bullets which consumed over 250 people in unending horror.
Only a few survivors managed to escape – to find their breath again. The following is a personal testimony, told by one of the survivors. The first name of the survivor is omitted for anonymity and safety.
Ms. Guy, a 23-year-old who lives in Meitar, southern Israel, describes the incredulous story about the deadly rave party that took place in tents. “Suddenly, many sirens started going off, and the sky was filled with smoke [from Hamas’ rockets fired from Gaza]. We hopped into the car, thankfully. We were behind the scene, because if we had tried to be in front, I would not have wanted to know what would have happened”, she said. “Abruptly, people left their cars and ran the opposite way.” Then, we heard gunshots which were getting stronger. Hence, people were hysterically running, and I heard someone screaming: ‘someone has been shot’. We continued running, and we called our parents telling them we were being shot at and that we heard gunshots. After, we entered an extremely crowded bunker while trying to pull in as many people as we could. The police were saying to us: ‘run to an open area’. The terrorists were approaching, and we ran, and sand was in our face. While hearing gunshots and seeing people fall behind us, we saw, on the left side, a car with a wounded woman and people trying to help her. And then, the picture started to be clear; we were being slaughtered.”
There are dozens of survivor testimonies like Ms. Guy’s out there to bear witness to. They help us to understand Israel’s reaction to this tragedy, and its goal to eliminate a terrorist organization like Hamas from governing the Gaza strip.