Survivors of Hamas attack on music festival: Women were raped next to the corpses of their friends

The sudden escalation of tension and conflict between Israel and Palestine has led to many shocking first-hand accounts of violence and suffering.

Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7 and one of the primary targets appeared to be a music festival taking place near the border with the Gaza Strip, which is Palestinian territory.

First-hand accounts show the horror

Gili Yoskovich was one of hundreds of young people at the event when gunmen opened fire. She spoke to the BBC about her experience as one of the lucky survivors.

“They were…all over the place with automatic weapons,” she said.

“They were standing next to the cars starting to shoot but I realised it was very easy to get killed…because everyone was going everywhere.

“The terrorists were coming from four or five places…so we didn’t know whether to go here, so then I got into my car again and I drove a little bit more.

“Some people were shooting at me. I left the car and started to run, I saw a place with many pomelo trees and I went there.

“So I was in the middle [of this field] and I was lying on the floor. It was the second hiding place I found and they were just all around me.

“They were going tree by tree and shooting. Everywhere. From two sides. I saw people were dying all around. I was very quiet. I didn’t cry, I didn’t do anything.”

Yoskovich managed to survive, but a report from Alerta News 24 contains allegations that some women were raped in the rave area of the festival, next to the corpses of their friends.

They also say that these women were then later killed. Israel has since launched a bombardment of airstrikes against Palestine which has led to hundreds more deaths.