I’ve spent the last 12 hours speaking to Israelis who were at the Supernova music festival. Their testimonies, as you would imagine, are very emotional. At least one broke down mid-conversation and wasn’t able to continue his recollection.

The attack on the festival outside of Re’im began around 7 a.m. The party was at its peak by then—which meant that by then most people were inebriated. At first, partygoers heard a loud explosion, which they took to be another sporadic rocket attack on southern Israel. But then the explosions grew louder and constant, and kept going for about five minutes. The music stopped, and the police protecting the 4,000 or 5,000 ravers began pushing everyone to leave.

By then, the terrorists were approaching in pickup trucks bearing Hamas military markings.

Shooting began. Many were executed on the spot. 260 bodies have been found, so far, on the site of the rave.

Many of the young men and women started running in the flat expanse of the western Negev desert. Faced with the spectacle of kids fleeing for their lives on a largely flat surface, the terrorists began rounding up the rest of their victims.

Others were captured and bound and kidnapped. “I saw videos with a male getting held by a group of Arab kids. Like, they’re like 16, 17,” one survivor recalled. “They’re kids, but they’re they’re young men already, and they’re holding this guy, and he looks as his girlfriend is being mounted on a bike and driven away from him. God knows what she’s going to experience… Women have been raped at the area of the rave next to their friends bodies, dead bodies.”

Several of these rape victims appear to have been later executed. Others were taken to Gaza. In photographs released online, you can see several paraded through the city’s streets, blood gushing from between their legs.

The only thing I want is a weapon. I want something to protect us.

One survivor who’d returned to the scene later in the day to look for his friends spoke, in a breaking voice, of what he’d seen. Of the bodies, mainly of young women, lying cold and mutilated. Of scantily clad corpses, many of whom appeared to have been shot at point blank. Of cars, perforated by bullets or blown up by grenades.

Some of the lucky ones ran to a nearby wadi, seeking shelter amid the shrubbery. “I felt like they were shooting right above our heads,” one survivor recalled. “I dove into a bush… It felt like the shooting was coming from 180 degrees, all around us. I understood we’re going to be there for at least a couple of hours. And I had nothing on me. And I was like, the only thing I want is a weapon. I want something to protect us.” Eventually, he and his friends, some of them barefoot, decided to risk it and try to reach safety, walking close enough to the road to see it but not so close so that they might be seen. “I said, if we see like army or police cars, we’re going to go to the road. Otherwise, we’re going to stay away. When we saw police and army cars, we knew that it’s a safe place.”

Later, when the gruesome attack was finally over and IDF soldiers managed to subdue the attackers, they searched these trucks and found RPG launchers, high-end communications devices, assorted AK-47s and other mostly Soviet-made weapons, along with numerous copies of the Quran.

  • Rapidcreek@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    Hamas are nasty terrorist clowns who hate everybody. This butchery put that on full display. They don’t represent anyone, and in fact are hated by quite a few Palestinian people.

  • ???@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I am writing this not to undermine any witness testimonies. Yes, it’s extremely likely that women and men were raped in this situation. This is something we know happens in war, no point denying it.

    I just want to point out that this particular site that this article is from is a right wing pro-Israeli nationalist site that also dabbles in conspiracy theories.

    You can check the rating here: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/tablet-magazine/

    Seems to mostly publish factual information, but it is good to know what the source is and what to look out for.

    They are the only ones with any story about this now. I for one would rather wait until the investigation is done and we can understand what happened in that massacre. That being said, rape is a likely outcome.

    • wiki_me@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      They are the only ones with any story about this now. I for one would rather wait until the investigation is done and we can understand what happened in that massacre. That being said, rape is a likely outcome.

      times of israel is ranked “high” and made a similar report . (very difficult description ahead, consider if you want to read this stuff).

      Two videos in particular have raised concerns of sexual assault against women, one of which shows a woman apparently bleeding into her shorts being taken out of a vehicle in Gaza; the woman is alive. The other video shows a woman stripped down to her underwear lying face down in a truck.

  • HuddaBudda@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Several of these rape victims appear to have been later executed. Others were taken to Gaza. In photographs released online, you can see several paraded through the city’s streets, blood gushing from between their legs.

    I thought I had seen the worst of what humanity has to offer.

    This war will have no winners, only losers.

  • orphiebaby@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Hexbear is up and down Lemmy trying to tell us that ISrAeL CaUsEd aLL tHiS aNd DeSeRvEs WhAt tHeY GeT. Why? Fuck if I know, but my best guess is they just hate anyone America supports, regardless of any nuances. BOTH Israel and Palestine-- and not ALL of them, obviously-- are wrong and evil in this war.

    • jscummy@sh.itjust.works
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      There’s a ton of users here who seem to be so blinded by “America bad” and trying to have the biggest brain contrarian take. Half the time it leads them to into a pants on head level argument that ignores basic, undeniable facts such as “intentionally targeting hundreds of civilians and proceeding to kill, rape and torture them is wrong”

    • Encode1307@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      On the plus side, they made me figure out how to block their instance. I was so disgusted; it was either that or leave lemmy.

    • BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      Israel did cause all this. But innocent civilians don’t deserve to be targeted. This is abhorrent on all fronts.

    • aceshigh@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      it’s very interesting how different our lemmy experiences are. l.w blocked them awhile ago and if it wasn’t for your post i wouldn’t have been aware of it. thanks for sharing.

  • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Eagerly awaiting the people who are going to tell us that this is what decolonization and righteous resistance looks like.

    • TheDankHold@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      No this is what results when that doesn’t happen and also what happens when you decide to fund extremists in the 80s and 90s so you can keep the moderate coalition out of power to keep this clusterfuck going.

  • ruford1976@lemmy.worldOP
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    1 year ago

    Do they have russian soldiers in palestine?

    or are they the same people from hebron and munich massacres?

    • DigitalTraveler42@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      A Ruzzia hacker group (basically just a front for the GRU) just declared that they’re attacking Israel, so same type of dickheads definitely, all supported by Ruzzia’s Allies, Iran and Syria.

    • Azzu@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      It’s almost as if stuff like this is part of human nature. It all just depends on which environment one grows up in.

  • theodewere@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    so we know where in the World Wagner PMC is now… and the whole thing is now obviously a Russian op…

      • BadAdvice@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        So was Hitler once. Even liked dogs. Still grew up to be a monster. Say, were any of the “victims” aspiring art students?

        • pimento64@sopuli.xyz
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          Funny you should bring up Hitler. The Nazis attempted to exterminate the Jewish people and killed millions of them in the process, which doesn’t justify Israel’s actions, as I’m sure you’ll agree. But then you turn around and say that Israel practicing an apartheid state does justify the rape and murder of Israeli civilians. So which is it? You can’t have both.

        • HolyDuckTurtle@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          You are supporting the rape and murder of ordinary people. Nothing justifies this behaviour. Especially not with the pathetic “but what if any of these people could go on to become the new Hitler? Checkmate!” line.

          I don’t know if you’re a troll who thinks this is funny, or something worse. Either way, it needs to stop.

        • Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          It is possible to both not support the behaviour of the Israeli state towards Palestinian civilians and not support the mass murder and worse of Hamas.

          • Unaware7013@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            That’s pretty much where I am. I don’t support the violence against Israeli citizens at all, but Israel is also not the good guy in the situation as well given the history of their treatment of Palestinians and decades of illegal settlements.

        • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Yes, dehumanize your ‘enemy’. This is a great moral strength of yours and surely won’t lead to you becoming exactly what you hate.