In its attack on Israeli territory, Hamas notably targeted a festival which was held near the Gaza Strip. At Be’er Sheva hospital, relatives of the victims of this rave party are desperate and waiting for news of the missing people.
The Hamas offensive has stunned the Israeli population. She is today traumatized by these images of kidnappings and assassinations which have multiplied on screens and social networks. Hamas notably attacked the site of the “Tribe of Nova” festival, which was held in the desert, where hundreds of young people had gathered to dance to techno music, half an hour from the border between Gaza and Israel. Saturday October 7, 250 people were killed at this rave party. “They massacred people in cold blood in an absolutely inconceivable way“, testifies Moti Bukjin, the spokesperson for the NGO Zaka, who participated in the collection of the bodies.
>> TESTIMONY. “There were 70 of us in a shelter when the terrorists arrived”: Tal recounts the Hamas attack in the middle of a rave party in the desert
At the entrance to the hospital Beersheba, the largest hospital near the massacre area, we met Hadar. The crying girl sat down for a few minutes. She readjusts her glasses, catches her breath and says she hasn’t heard from many friends: “There is a girl, they killed her… They put her body in a truck. They took photos and videos of her. We recognized her because of her tattoos. Many of my friends are missing and we don’t know what’s going on. People have been kidnapped in Gaza and we don’t know who.”
“There are no more morals now”
Hadar’s friends are part of a golden, night-owl youth. Many met during other parties or stays organized in India on the beaches of Goa. Open-minded idealists who, since Saturday’s trauma, can no longer feel empathy for the civilians of Gaza. “It’s hard because I aspire to be the person I want to be, who loves everyone, but I’m afraidconfides Hadar. After what they did to our civilians, to our children, to our friends, we cannot think of their children. We can’t think about that now. We must think about keeping Israel safe. Otherwise, I don’t know where to go. I want the civilians of Gaza to try to escape somewhere anywhere. I don’t care about it in Türkiye, I don’t know. There are no more morals now. Did you see what happened?”
The search to find the missing is still ongoing. Israeli authorities must contact the families within 36 hours. There are still three possibilities for these families. The first, and this is the best scenario, is that the victim is injured and unconscious. Relatives are then invited to go to hospitals. The second is that the person is dead, that their body has been collected by a specialized Israeli service to identify corpses. The police then ask the families of the missing to go to the police stations to drop off a personal item. The objective is to collect DNA and then be able to identify the body. And then the third is that the victim was kidnapped and is now captive in the Gaza Strip. Families have already recognized a son or daughter in videos posted on social networks, and these families have formed a collective.
According to the Israeli army, more than 900 Israelis have been killed since the offensive began on Saturday. The Israeli Health Ministry also reported 2,616 injuries.