Israelis peeked out their windows to see terrifying scenes of armed Hamas militants outside, trying to break into their houses and shooting at anyone they saw. Thousands of Israeli party-goers at a desert rave screamed and ran for their lives as bloodied victims collapsed around them. Family members searching for missing loved ones were shaken to recognise them in haunting social media videos showing Hamas militants taking terrified Israelis hostage.
Israel was in shock Saturday, with the unprecedented scenes of violence and chaos unfolding across the country’s south seared into people’s minds. Even the steely-nerved residents of communities near the Gaza Strip who have grown used to the wail of air-raid sirens described Saturday’s ground assault — with fighters entering their communities in pick-up trucks, on boats and by hang-gliders — as a nightmare come true.
Terrifying turn of events, unlike anything residents had experienced before
For Israelis working and living within range of Gaza, the sight of Hamas militants roaming outside their homes on Saturday — and reports that Hamas had taken dozens of civilians and soldiers captive — marked a terrifying turn of events unlike anything residents had experienced before.
“This was always the nightmare. We told ourselves that one day, the terrorists will come inside here,” said Jehan Berman, a 42-year-old in the small community of Avshalom near Gaza. It took eight hours, he said, for the Israeli military to arrive at his kibbutz and start fending off the Hamas fighters.
Berman, who suffers from multiple wounds and disabilities inflicted by the past four wars and countless other skirmishes between Israel and Hamas over the years, said Israeli authorities notified him that Hamas kidnapped his 75-year-old mother-in-law, along with several friends in their 30s and their small children. The last time he heard from his mother-in-law was 10:30 a.m., he said, when she called him, panicked and distraught, to say that Hamas militants had shot and killed her husband.
While the Israeli military’s Iron Dome anti-rocket defence system intercepted some 90% of Gaza rockets heading for populated areas, there was nothing protecting Israelis from armed militants opening fire and entering their homes. A fortified border fence, equipped with sophisticated sensors, proved no match for the heavy explosives unleashed by Hamas militants as they burst into Israel.
This time, few residents had their usual sanguine slogans to offer about Israeli resilience and defiance. They were clearly rattled and emotional. “I feel so incredibly violated,” said 68-year-old Adele Raemer from a safe room in the southern kibbutz of Nir Am after discovering that Palestinian militants had smashed her windows while trying to break into her house. “This is so tough for us, I don’t even have the words,” she said.
Israel’s Channel 12 aired a string of harrowing phone call recordings by civilians trapped inside their homes as militants closed in. The callers used hushed tones to describe terrifying scenes to their loved ones.
“We can hear them, they’re breaking in through the windows and there’s no one here to help us,” one caller said.
“I love you, I love you"
A son whispered to his mother that he could hear gunshots. She pleaded with him to find somewhere secure to hide. Another caller told her relative she wasn’t sure whether she would get out safely. “I love you, I love you,” she said.
News of the surprise invasion, with its haunting echoes of the 1973 Mideast War, sent millions of Israelis rushing to bomb shelters. Some in hard-hit communities were evacuated to protected spaces farther north.
Families who huddled in their basements had little idea what was unfolding above them but heard deeply disturbing sounds — not just the usual shriek of rockets and muffled bangs of explosions, they said, but the loud crackling of gunfire that indicated fighters were on the ground, and getting closer.
Naftali Bennett shows up for IDF reserve duty
Amid the unprecedented scenario, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has shown up for reserve duty, the Jerusalem Post reported. Bennett, who served in office between June 2021 and June 2022, was pictured wearing an IDF military uniform.
It comes after the IDF announced an extensive reserve recruitment due to the assault, which commenced on Saturday morning, reported The Jewish Chronicle. Sharing a photo purportedly showing the former PM in what appears to be a military warehouse, the newspaper Israel Hayom said Bennett was preparing to defend the country.
(With inputs from agency)
