After almost a month, 24-year-old Aliza Samuel returned to the festival site, which became one of the targets of the Hamas attack on October 7. Several hundred bodies of victims were then taken from the event site. She told about the brutality of terrorists and how she hid to survive. – Everyone who lived through that day must tell their story. No matter how painful it is, she said.
October 7 in the morning Hamas attacked Israel. The fighters entered the country by land, sea and air, and fired thousands of missiles. The attacks affected many places. She was one of the first an outdoor event taking place that night as part of the Nova Festival in rural farmland, about three kilometers from Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. At least 260 bodies of victims of the attack were later removed from the area where the festival was held.
Read more: They came to have fun, they fought for their lives. “They were everywhere, walking and shooting. People were dying all around
The event was supposed to be a music and dance party on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
“The world needs to know what happened here.”
One of the people who survived the attack is 24-year-old Aliza Samuel. Together with a CNN reporter, she returned to the place where a month earlier her friends were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists. She came across the armbands worn by the event participants lying on the ground.
Aliza comes across the armbands worn by the event participants lying on the ground2023 Cable News Network All Right Reserved
Festival site after the Hamas attack2023 Cable News Network All Right Reserved
She showed the bushes where she and her friend had been hiding for over three hours. – Here we hid in the bushes for several hours. I saw it all, people lined up in a row, killed one by one. My friends stood one behind the other, and my friend begged for her life to be spared. She was 20 years old and begging for her life. She asked them not to kill her. They didn’t care. They laughed, she said.
Alisa hid in the bushes for almost three hours 2023 Cable News Network All Right Reserved
Despite their fear, they had to remain silent. – I had to crawl to my friend and cover her mouth with my hand. I couldn’t let her make noise, because it would mean death or slavery for us, she said. During this time, Hamas fighters murdered festival participants. – They asked the commander which prisoners to kill and which not to kill. He decided, they shot them in the head – she added.
When the 24-year-old and the CNN reporter wanted to move on, they heard alarm sirens, which also sounded on October 7, when Hamas terrorists appeared at the festival site right after them. Aliza began to shake with fear.
– Everyone who lived through that day must tell their story. No matter how painful it is. The world needs to know what happened here, she said.
Hamas attack on Israel PAP/Reuters – Maciej Zieliński
Main photo source: 2023 Cable News Network All Right Reserved