Israeli festivalgoer describes terrifying moment Hamas terrorists armed with automatic weapons opened fire on revellers running for their lives and went ‘tree by tree’ shooting people
- Gili Yoskovich hid under tree after terrorists began killing innocent festivalgoers
An Israeli festivalgoer has described the horrifying moment Hamas gunmen stormed a dance festival and started opening fire on anybody they saw as people fled for their lives.
A terrified Gili Yoskovich hid under a tree shaking for three hours as bullets whizzed around her as terrorists opened fire on Saturday morning at defenceless revellers at an all-night trance music rave near Kibbutz Re’im, close to the Gaza Strip.
The mother described how young people – whose night celebrating the end of the Sukkot religious holiday had turned to terror – were dying all around her and on the road as Hamas militants went ‘tree to tree’ on a killing spree.
As the callous gunmen opened fire, Gili sprinted for her life and hid beneath a fruit tree in the middle of the field where she stayed until she heard people speaking in Hebrew and was rescued by Israeli soldiers.
‘I saw people were dying all around. I was very quiet. I didn’t cry, I didn’t do anything,’ she told the BBC.
A terrified Gili Yoskovich hid under a tree for three hours as Hamas militants opened fire on defenceless festivalgoers near Kibbutz Re’im, close to the Gaza Strip
‘I was… breathing, saying: “OK, I’m going to die. It’s OK, just breathe, just close your eyes”.’
Footage emerged showing how festival goers appeared to be oblivious to the impending terror floating hundreds of feet above their heads in the distance in footage posted to TikTok.
READ MORE: German tattoo artist, 30, killed by Hamas while attending a music festival before the militants paraded her body on the back of a truck and claimed she was an Israeli soldier
The footage, shot soon after sunrise, sees the eagle-eyed cameraperson suddenly zoom in on grey dots in the air, which turn out to be Palestinian militants.
Hamas fighters managed to infiltrate Israel essentially undetected by paragliding across the normally heavily guarded frontier.
Moments later, the dancing stops and out terror ensues as festival goers are forced to run for their lives as armed Hamas fighters began shooting and kidnapping whoever lay in their path.
The partygoers were surrounded as terrorists used paragliders to land in the field and came at them ‘from four or five places’ and started firing at people running away.
Gili described the horror as the massacre unfolded with people dying around her and said: ‘They were going tree by tree and shooting. Everywhere. From two sides. I saw people were dying all around. I was very quiet. I didn’t cry, I didn’t do anything.’
Hamas militants were heard opening up a ‘big van’ to grab more weapons and stayed in the area for three hours and came within touching distance of Gili.
Hamas fighters circumvented Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip by flying in via paraglider, according to the Israeli military (pictured: an alleged paraglider crossing into Israel)
In footage posted to TikTok revelers appeared to be oblivious to the impending terror floating hundreds of feet above their heads in the distance
Hamas claimed to have fired 5,000 rockets into Israel from the occupied Gaza Strip, setting off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
Israeli festival goers could be seen dancing in the desert at dawn on Saturday, completely unawares that within minutes members of the Hamas militant group were about to descend from the skies and inflict terror
Gili lay still thinking about her children telling herself ‘it’s not time to die yet’. But the ‘most crazy thing’, she says, was how they were there for hours without the army coming to their rescue.
‘Then I started to hear some Hebrew from one side, [but] Arabic from three sides. I realised that there were some soldiers, maybe five or six,’ she said.
READ MORE: Israeli revelers are seen partying in the Negev desert before fleeing for their lives as blood-thirsty Hamas paragliders descend on festival
‘I decided to go to these soldiers. Meanwhile there were still terrorists around, so I was going with my hands up so that they will know that its me and I’m not a terrorist. Then someone was putting me in a car.
‘I was the first one to get out of the field. It took others two or three more hours to get out [and] all the way people were dying – all the way on the road, young people, [as] it’s a festival for young people.’
A red siren had alerted people to the impending doom, with the immediate panic that swept through the crowd captured on video.
‘It [the siren] led to chaos, especially among the vehicles trying to exit,’ a festivalgoer named Daniel explained.
‘Then gunshots began, and we had to start running. Currently, we are in hiding, waiting for assistance.’
The siren was quickly drowned out by gunshots when heavily armed Hamas militants arrived on the scene as the terror group began its attack on Israel which have so far killed hundreds and wounded thousands more.
Videos posted to social media, although grainy, appear to depict scenes of chaos in the sand at the outdoor party, reports The Jerusalem Post.
German tattoo artist named Shani Louk, 30, was in Israel to attend a peace rave
Hamas had claimed the body in the truck was a female Israeli soldier – but it was last night confirmed to be tourist Shani by her cousin Tomasina Weintraub-Louk
Shocking footage shared on social media appears to show Palestinian fighters parading Shani’s naked body on the back of a pick-up truck
Shani’s mother, Ricarda, holds up a picture of her daughter on her mobile phone in an emotional video appeal begging for help to find out what happened to her daughter
Panicked Israelis can be seen shouting, running, and hurriedly getting into cars as they attempt to escape the festival in the north-western Negev desert, about 5 miles from the city of Ofakim.
READ MORE: Moment Israeli Air Force strikes Hamas compounds on the Gaza strip as retaliation strikes begin – with troops targeting intelligence bureau, banks, leaders’ homes and weapons factories
‘Palestinian terrorists invaded a festival where hundreds of Israelis were camping out for the Shemini Atzeret holiday. The panic caused by this is evident on the fades [faces] of the civilians being targeted by heavily armed militants. Pray for Israel,’ the video is captioned.
A second video of the same scene also sees hundreds of Israelis running for cover and countless others speeding off in packed vehicles across the dusty ground.
‘Israelis running from cities to deserts by foot, car and any other means,’ reads the caption.
One of those captured was 30-year-old German tattoo artist Shani Louk.
Her lifeless and semi-naked body was paraded in the back of a Hamas pick-up truck as militants sat on top of her and jeered following the violent incursion.
She filmed splayed in the back of a truck, with one leg at an unnatural angle, terrorists sitting around it and supporters of the group cheering, running alongside and spitting on her.
Hamas had claimed the body was a female Israeli soldier – but it was last night confirmed to be Shani by her cousin Tomasina Weintraub-Louk, who told DailyMail.com that the family recognized her distinctive leg tattoos and dreadlocked hair.
Sitting on the back of a terrorist’s motorcycle, her outstretched arms pointing towards her helpless boyfriend, student Noa Argamani pleads for her life
Along with hundreds of other young Israelis, Noa (pictured) had been enjoying a peace festival in the desert when they were forced to flee for their lives
Her mother, Ricarda, released a heartbreaking video begging for help to find out what happened to her daughter.
Holding a picture of Shani on her mobile phone, she said: ‘This morning my daughter, Shani Nicole Louk, a German citizen, was kidnapped with a group of tourists in southern Israel by Palestinian Hamas.
‘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.
READ MORE: Fears for missing British man, 26, who last texted his mother to say ‘rockets were flying over’ music festival where he was working as a security guard before Hamas ambush
‘I ask you to send us any help or any news. Thank you very much.’
The tragedy comes as Palestinian militants launched its worst onslaught for 50 years on Saturday by unprecedented land, sea and air attacks – even using hang gliders to avoid detection.
In a coordinated, multi-pronged assault, Palestinian terrorists crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip, seizing settlements and capturing and murdering civilians celebrating a Jewish holiday.
Dozens of people are feared to have been snatched off the street and returned to Gaza, or simply killed on the spot.
The music festival attended by Shani was one of the first sites to be attacked by the terrorist group, with reports suggesting dozens were killed on sight with more taken hostage by the militants.
In a second video widely shared on social media, a woman screaming ‘Don’t kill me!’ can be seen being driven off on a motorbike by a gunman.
The Mail on Sunday has learned she is Noa Argamani, 25, a student who was seized at the same outdoor peace festival she had attended with her boyfriend close to the border.
Esther Borochov, who fled the rave party, said she survived by playing dead in a car after the driver trying to help her escape was shot point blank.
Bodies of Israeli civilians were strewn across the streets of Sderot in southern Israel, near Gaza, surrounded by broken glass. The bodies of a woman and a man were sprawled across the front seats of a car.
‘I went out, I saw loads of bodies of terrorists, civilians, cars shot up. A sea of bodies, inside Sderot along the road, other places, loads of bodies,’ said Shlomi from Sderot.
Terrified Israelis, barricaded into safe rooms, recounted their plight by phone on live TV.
Other footage showed captured soldiers and civilians – some dead – being paraded through Gaza’s streets.
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