By Iwan Stone
Published: | Updated:
Advertisement
Follow MailOnline’s liveblog here for all updates on the war between Israel and Hamas militants after terrorist fighters launched an unprecedented attack on the Jewish nation on Saturday.
Chilling video has emerged of the moment terrified Israeli festival goers were forced to hide in the undergrowth to avoid a hail of bullets from Hamas militants in a massacre that has left some 260 civilians dead.
The Palestinian militant group stormed the Supernova Festival that had been taking place near Kibbutz Re’im, close to the Gaza Strip, as part of its surprise assault launched on Saturday.
Music at the deadly rave, which survivors said initially had ‘good vibes’, played all night until around 6.30am, when a siren began blaring warning of rockets.
Festival goers knew there was a risk of rocket attacks. What they didn’t expect was truckloads of armed gunmen cutting power to the festival and storming the site, firing indiscriminately into the crowd.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/09/02/76319325-0-image-a-72_1696813672649.jpg)
A mother is still missing after her two children that she was kidnapped with were found at the border.
Adi Vital-Kaplon, 33, was snatched by militants from her home near Gaza on Saturday with four-year-old Negev and Eshel, six months.
But the children were left at the border at night where they were found by a family friend Avital, 38.
Their grandfather Yondav Kaplon said: ‘From what we understand [Avital] was kidnapped, or escaped or was released, but she recognised them last night on the fence and took them back to Israel.’
Adi Vital-Kaplon, 33, (pictured) was snatched by militants from her home near Gaza on Saturday with four-year-old Negev and Eshel, six months
A student was filmed screaming ‘don’t kill me’ as she was dragged away on a motorcyle by Hamas thugs.
Noa Argamani, 25, was kidnapped with her boyfriend Avi Nathan during an attack on a music festival close to the Gaza border. Her tearful father Yaacov Argamani said yesterday: ‘I tried to contact her from the second we heard the rocket sirens.
‘While on the phone, her roommate contacted us and said there was a video of her on a motorcycle and she was kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
‘She was so scared, so frightened. I always protected her, and at this very moment I couldn’t.’
Pictured: Noa Argamani, 25, who was kidnapped with her boyfriend Avi Nathan during an attack on a music festival close to the Gaza border
Young children and elderly grandparents were among the more than 100 hostages being held as human shields by Hamas last night.
Families have described the horror of only discovering their loved ones had been snatched by viewing chilling videos posted on social media by their gloating kidnappers.
Footage showed sobbing children and their helpless mothers being dragged from their homes and loaded into vehicles by heavily armed men before being taken to Gaza.
It is feared two Britons could be among those being held after the terrorist group launched its bloody multi-pronged surprise attack.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/08/22/76313949-0-image-a-27_1696801069457.jpg)
A group of 31 Harvard organizations, including the Ivy League institution’s affiliate of Amnesty International, has placed the blame on Israel for Hamas’ brutal, surprise attack that has killed at least 700 Israelis.
The organizations released a letter to the public as a ‘Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine’ on Sunday to condemn Israel in the wake of the violence.
They claim that Hamas’ attacks, which are still ongoing, ‘did not happen in a vacuum’ and the Israeli government has forced Palestinians to live in ‘an open-air prison for over two decades.’
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/09/07/76324829-0-image-a-7_1696833484954.jpg)
Music at the deadly rave, which survivors said initially had ‘good vibes’, played all night until round 6.30am when a siren began blaring warning of rockets. Hamas terrorists then cut the electricity as rockets flew overhead and jeeps filled with gunmen ran onto the site.
Terrifying footage shows partygoers screaming as shots are fired while police are seen trying to help people evacuate. Some are seen holding hands as they run away while others shout ‘go, go, go’.
Survivors of the attack said they were forced to hide under bushes as they watched victims get killed one by one, until they heard the sound of people rescuers speaking in Hebrew. According to Israeli media, it took five hours for military to arrive.
Meanwhile distraught relatives, hoping to find their loved ones, were asked to bring personal items such as combs and toothbrushes belonging to their missing children to help emergency services begin the grim task of matching DNA to bodies found.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/09/02/76319325-0-image-a-72_1696813672649.jpg)
The Hamas leader behind the deadliest attack on Israel watched and celebrated the invasion from the safety of his Qatar office.
Ismail Haniyeh was spotted with other Hamas officials cheering for joy before they prostrated themselves on the floor and praised God.
It came as the terrorist group launched the single deadliest attack ever launched against Israel – which the Jewish state has claimed is ‘our 9/11’.
Israeli media said at least 700 people were killed and 2,000 wounded in Saturday’s attack.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/08/21/76310531-0-image-a-96_1696796801786.jpg)
Iron Dome shield intercepts rockets from Gaza
Hamas’ surprise attack on Saturday morning came just one day after the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Yom Kippur War, which saw Israel battle existential threats from hostile neighbors led by Egypt and Syria.
Israeli soldiers and civilians fought Hamas militants on the streets of southern Israel following a barrage of 2,000 rockets sent over the border by the Palestinian terrorists, in addition to a savage ground assault.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 413 people, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed in the territory.
About 2,000 people have been wounded on each side. An Israeli official said security forces have killed 400 militants and captured dozens more.
Spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces Jonathan Conricus also confirmed that Americans, British and French people were involved in the carnage.
He said that children, babies, elderly people and disabled people were among those kidnapped.
Iran was branded a ‘terrorist state’ last night as the spiralling violence threatened to spill into a major conflict in the Middle East.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed a ‘mighty vengeance’, promising to reduce parts of Gaza run by Hamas ‘into rubble’.
Forces in the north also exchanged rocket and artillery fire with Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/08/22/76314367-0-image-a-131_1696801604135.jpg)
Senior members of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah claimed that Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed at least 700 people was given the green light by Iranian security officials.
The official go-ahead for the attack was allegedly given at a Monday meeting in Beirut.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/08/22/76314253-0-image-a-17_1696801576493.jpg)
A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces said they want to completely strip Hamas of its power to govern in Palestine after Israel’s ‘worst day in history’ – and warned the death toll of 700 is likely to rise much higher.
Bodies of young revellers were seen piled up on top of each other in makeshift tents last night as emergency workers tried to identify the 260 festival-goers killed at an Israeli music festival by Hamas terrorists in a shock attack.
The distressing image, shared in a pixelated form on the Israeli government’s official Twitter page, showed scores of victims placed in body bags at the site of the ‘beautiful party’ that turned into a horrific massacre.
Footage from the aftermath shows empty festival tents and abandoned cars strewn frantically across the road leading to the Supernova Festival, that had been taking place near Kibbutz Re’im, close to the Gaza Strip.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/09/02/76319325-0-image-a-72_1696813672649.jpg)
:
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk