Israel music festival survivors give chilling accounts of Hamas massacre that left at least 260 dead
- Hamas gunmen unleashed carnage at a music festival on Saturday as part of a massive, multi-pronged surprise attack
- At least 260 revelers were gunned down or burnt in their cars, while several were abducted and taken back into Gaza
The night was a getaway. Thousands of young men and women gathered at a vast field in southern Israel near the Gaza border to dance without a care. Old and new friends jumped up and down, reveling in the swirl of the bass-heavy beats.
Maya Alper was standing toward the back of the bar with teams of environmentally conscious volunteers, picking up trash and passing out free vodka shots to party-goers who reused their cups.
Just after 6am, as a light-blue dawn broke and the headliner DJ took the stage, air raid sirens cut through the ethereal trap music. Rockets streaked overhead.
Alper, 25, jumped into her car and raced to the main road. But at the intersection she encountered crowds of stricken festival attendees, shouting at drivers to turn around. Then, a noise. Firecrackers? Panicked men and women staggering down the road just in front of her fell to the ground in pools of blood. Gunshots.
The open-air Tribe of Nova music festival will go down in Israeli history as the worst civilian massacre in the country’s history, with at least 260 dead and a still undetermined number taken hostage.
