(Reim (southern Israel)) “I am looking for my friends who disappeared during the rave party, please let me have access to the premises! “, begs a bohemian-looking woman, addressing a small group of Israeli soldiers armed to the teeth.
For almost three days, Daniele has not heard from several of his relatives who came to attend a huge concert on the Kibbutz of Réïm, located less than five kilometers from the Gaza Strip. In the early hours of the Hamas offensive on Saturday, hundreds of revelers were surprised by the Palestinian attackers. At least 260 of them were killed on the spot. Dozens more are still missing. More than 3,000 attended the event, according to the Associated Press.
Monday morning, the wait ended up becoming unbearable for Daniele. The thirty-year-old then got into her small car and drove towards the site of the ravebarely a kilometer from the checkpoint where IDF (Israeli army) soldiers are now blocking his way. “Perhaps my friends are still hiding in the countryside, or perhaps they are injured somewhere? I have to go, and too bad for the danger,” she tries to convince herself.
Ocean of Desolation
The danger is very real, the combat zone is very close. Not far from the checkpoint, three vans used by the Hamas attackers lie, riddled with bullets, in a ditch. The bodies of four Palestinian fighters decompose in a rainstorm.
Around twenty IDF tanks are heading towards the Gaza border, raising impressive clouds of dust. Israeli artillery thunders at regular intervals. Hunters whir in the black sky. In the distance, gigantic plumes of smoke rise from the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, nearly 2,400 targets were bombed in Gaza between Saturday and Monday morning.
PHOTO THÉOPHILE SIMON, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Israeli tanks maneuver towards the Gaza Strip in a field on Kibbutz Reim, not far from the concert site.
Through negotiations, Daniele ends up convincing the soldiers to escort him to the scene of the tragedy. A line of charred cars litters the road leading to the concert site. On site, among the remains of a purple marquee and a Buddha statue erected for the festival, Daniele discovers an ocean of desolation.
“The bodies were removed, I haven’t found my friends. All that remains are personal objects that people left behind in their flight,” she says as she leaves the area a few hours later.
Death Trap
The scene of panic, captured on social networks, was apocalyptic. After the first salvo of rockets, at dawn, Palestinian fighters burst into the area on paragliders and motorbikes. The attackers were obviously well informed: the precise location of the event was only communicated to the participants the same day.
“Almost everyone was drunk, or under the influence of drugs. We started running towards the fields. But no matter which direction we ran, the terrorists were waiting for us,” told Milet Ben Haim, one of the participants, on the internet.
“After almost three hours of running like crazy, we realized there was no escape. They were everywhere. We ended up hiding behind a tree, in some bushes. We covered ourselves with leaves. The shooting continued. The cries of “Allah Akbar” too. »
I wrote to my family that I loved them, that I was happy to have had this life. I didn’t think we were going to come out alive.
Milet Ben Haim, one of the participants in the concert
At the end of a long wait holed up in a bush, the young woman was eventually rescued by Israeli soldiers.
Serial kidnappings
Not all festival-goers were so lucky. Some, like Céline Naggar, a 31-year-old Franco-Israeli woman, were reportedly taken hostage and taken to the Gaza Strip.
“She was on her way to the concert with two friends,” explains her brother Samuel. Their car was found riddled with bullets and stained with blood in a town very close to the border. The driver’s phone was limited to less than 500 meters from the Gaza border. They were probably taken there. »
“I don’t even want to imagine what they can now do to the hostages,” he continues. My sister has a 6 month old baby, she is innocent. This attack is inhumane. Hamas has committed an unforgivable crime. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A Hamas attacker roams the concert site.
In total, nearly 150 Israelis are believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas.
Was it wise to organize a concert a stone’s throw from the Palestinian enclave, which is accustomed to outbursts of violence? For Samuel, the question does not arise. “This concert had taken place very regularly for years. There has never been a problem. We are a sovereign nation, whose citizens can party wherever they want,” he concludes.
For half a century, Israel had always remained master of its territory. Faced with the deadliest offensive in its history, the country suddenly saw its certainties waver.