Day 102 – It started out as such a joyful time...but then all hell broke lose.
The other day, the Shelanu team went to do some filming and interviews in some of the most tragic regions of the country. We started in Kibbutz Nir Oz and then went to the site of the Supernova Rave Concert massacre. I want to share with you a brief video that we filmed there.
In the early hours of October 7, partygoers came down to an open area near Kibbutz Re’im without a care. A professional documentary was pieced together by YES TV here in Israel using videos taken by those at the party. It shows the different stages that Israelis went through that morning. At first, they were simply having fun. Around 6:30 AM, they began to see rockets. As Israelis, we are used to rockets, so there was not much panic. One partygoer, Dima Fliemen, says to his friend, “It’s okay, my brother, we have a strong army.” But the army didn’t come for many hours.
The organizers yell, “Tzeva Adom! Tzeva Adom! Kulum l’hitphazer” (Red alert! Red alert! Everybody spread out). Another young man, Ayal Gamliel, is lamenting that the party is over. He has no idea what is coming.
(I had planned to post a link to the documentary because it is such an important work, but unfortunately, we found out that it is restricted to Israel on YouTube. It is all in Hebrew and hopefully, it will have subtitles in English one day soon and you can view it.)
The documentary also shows videos taken from the bodies of dead terrorists. They infiltrated our impenetrable “smart” fence like it was nothing. Benny Gantz was defense minister when upgrades were made in 2021. The fence “places an ‘iron wall,’ sensors and concrete between the terror organization [in Gaza] and the residents of Israel’s south.”
The CEO of the company that built the fence told Bloomberg, “This fence wasn’t built to stop riots as you see now. It was built to give a real-time indication if somebody is trying to cross the border.” But the IDF never came as 3,000 terrorists entered Israel. They were all from Hamas. Some people simply saw the fence come down and ran in. An elderly man on crutches enters Kibbutz Be’eri. Some of them simply came to loot the southern communities and go back into Gaza. The majority came to commit mass murder.
For the terrorists, this was the happiest day of their lives—or so it appeared. They rejoiced as they shouted praise to Allah.
Around 7 AM a young man calls the Israeli equivalent of 911. The woman who answered had no idea what was happening, “Why are you panicking? I don’t understand. What happened?” He tells her, “Terrorists are shooting here.” She responds. What do you mean by “here”? The country was not prepared. He screams in the phone, “They’re shooting at us, they’re shooting at us!” The most heartbreaking part is when he asks, “When will the police, the army, arrive? People are injured here.”
“They’re on the way,” she said, but their arrival was too little, too late. Around the same time, Hamas terrorists overtook the police station in nearby Sderot, killing 30 people—police officers and civilians.
Partygoers were stuck in a massive traffic jam as they tried to escape. Israel’s south has only tiny roads, and they used every lane to go north.
The documentary shows text messages sent between terrified children and parents.
“There are Arabs…shooting…outside…Mommy, what do I do?... I don’t know what to do … I’m panicking.”
“My heart is with you. I am praying for you to get out of there.”
Others take cover in a bomb shelter. Terrorists pull up in cars and begin to shoot inside. One realizes it’s too risky to go inside and simply throws in a grenade. He brings out those who are alive. “Here are the dogs,” he says as he hands a girl to another terrorist. The wounded are thrown into the back of a truck and taken to Gaza, all the while the terrorists beat on them.
There’s a terrifying moment where a guy and a girl in a car are trying to get away. An hour ago, she was dancing at a party. Now, she is in an absolute panic. Blood drips down his brow as he tells her, “Drive, drive away.” From the film, it appears that he simply jumped in her car. “Hit the gas!” he yells.
Liel Levi runs across the field with hundreds of others screaming, “Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy…” I don’t think I’ve ever seen more panic in my life. It’s like watching a horror movie.
“Nikki don’t stop running!” A young man says to his girlfriend, “It’s our life [that is at risk].”
Dudi Aleksalsi covers his face, “Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad (Here O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One).” He prays, “Just watch over my mother.”
Nehorai Levi is out of breath. He looks into his camera and says, “The terrorists are very close. The situation is very strange, but…mom, dad, I love you. Thank you for everything you did for me. Thank you for my life. I love you. Be joyful and be happy, be special.” He is incredibly calm. “I hope that we get out of this day okay. The terrorists are closing in and shooting at us. But if I don’t get out, know I love you, Mashi and Dor, everyone. I love you, and thank you for all the years that you were with me. That’s it. I hope that this video is for nothing. But if not, I love you,” and he blows them a kiss. As I’m watching this, I have no idea if he survived or not… But a quick Google search confirmed that the short movie he made was indeed for nothing. He survived.
Many played dead. A young woman, Noah Kalash, whispers into her camera, “We are hiding. I want to go home. I really hope that we get out of here quickly. I love everyone and miss everyone already.” You hear constant gunfire as she’s filming.
A few of them were able to calm themselves down. Some of them even smiled and laughed. One girl told herself she was in a film or a play. Soon she would be free. Another girl asked her friend to say something, but she was silent. “Ophek is not in a position to respond to the situation,” she jokes, even as gunfire is heard in the background.
At 10:30 AM you see a terrified 26-year-old Noah Argamani being taken away on a motorcycle. She is the girl who appeared recently in the Hamas video. They have another tall man with his hands tied, aggressively walking him back to Gaza. One terrorist says to his friends, “The army is behind us, go, go!”
A girl, Yuval Raphael, calls, her father in tears, “Daddy, why is nobody coming? Why?”
An orthodox Jewish paramedic looks into his phone and tells the grim story. Cars are burned. Dead bodies are on the ground. “Many young people were murdered in cold blood … every place we go, there are dead bodies on the road … a disaster that you cannot describe.”
A group of young men escapes in their car. They suddenly come across dead bodies, and one begins to panic. “Everyone was murdered here!” he yells in shock. “My God, how many bodies, how many bodies!”
At 2 PM, the army finally arrived at the concert area. They’re frantically looking for survivors, but no one responds to their calls. “There are dead bodies here … One, two, three, four, five dead bodies,” soldier Eran Masas said. “Everyone on the platform has been killed.” He finds no one alive. “She’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead … anyone … anyone can you answer?” Silence.
367 died.
34 kidnapped.
Thousands of injured.
The documentary ends with pictures of those who were murdered and kidnapped.
