Paragliders fired on fleeing civilians: How squads of Palestinians on suicide missions swooped over the Israeli border – spreading fear and chaos among cowering families below

Hamas terrorists blitzed into Israel on motorised paragliders during a lightning offensive yesterday morning while thousands of rockets rained down across the south of the country.

Footage showed squads of Palestinians on suicide missions swooping over the border on the aircraft, spreading fear and chaos among cowering families below before landing and opening fire on Israeli civilians and soldiers alike.

This was one of a number of methods the Palestinians used to breach Israel’s fortress-like defences around the Gaza Strip.

The terrorists fired some 2,500 missiles into Israel from 7am UK time. As they rained down on major towns, and even as far as Tel Aviv nearly 50 miles away, fighters used explosives to break through the border fence. 

Convoys of motorcycles and pick-up trucks then sped into Israel while other terrorists reportedly jumped into heavily armed speedboats to storm naval defences.

Footage showed squads of Palestinians on suicide missions swooping over the border on the aircraft

Brutal shootouts were seen taking place as Hamas militants descended on Israel via land, sea and air

A building in Tel Aviv is damaged by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip on October 7

A man runs in the road as fires burn in Ashkelon, Israel, following rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip initiated by Islamic militant group Hamas

As the surprise co-ordinated attack took hold, Hamas released slick footage online that showed its men training on the swift paragliders ahead of the invasion. Each pilot was armed with a machine gun which they began firing as they came into land before storming nearby buildings.

It was part of a strategy to spread maximum panic on Israelis waking up on the last day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

As Hamas’ fighters swarmed into the country they targeted civilians, with young Israelis at an open-air music concert in the desert among the first to be hit. Footage showed the revellers desperately clambering into cars to try to flee the invaders in Be’er Sheva.

Nearby, in the town of Nahal Oz, terrified residents were forced to hide inside their homes.

As the day unfolded, men were seen fighting brutal close-quarters gun battles in towns, with bodies – including civilians – soon piling up on the streets as the deadliest attack the country has endured for years unfolded.

Hamas also began rounding up hostages, with one elderly woman abducted and loaded on to a golf buggy that sped back into Gaza.

Another woman was squeezed between two fighters on a motorcycle. Horrifying images also showed a naked female Israeli being paraded through the streets on the back of a truck. 

Rockets launched from the coastal Gaza strip towards Israel by militants of the Ezz Al-Din Al Qassam militia, the military wing of Hamas movement

Members of the Israeli frorces take cover on the side of a street in Ashkelon as sirens wail while barrages of rockets are fired from the Gaza Strip

Palestinians celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence on Saturday afternoon

Another woman was seen bound and loaded into a military truck, while one young man was stripped down to his pants and led around in a chokehold.

An elderly woman with dementia was also among those cruelly paraded by the terrorists.

Saleh Arouri, a top Hamas official, told Al-Jazeera TV that his group is holding ‘a large number’ of Israeli prisoners, including senior officers, adding that they will be used in a prisoner exchange deal to free Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.

Palestinians also captured Israeli military vehicles and paraded them through the streets of Gaza. A dead Israeli soldier’s body was seen being dragged out of one and trampled on by a baying crowd.