On Friday evening, Arik Nani attended an electronic party in southern Israel to celebrate his 26th birthday, but ended up escaping the carnage as rockets roared overhead and Hamas militants They shot people trying to escape.

Thousands of young people attended the event “Party in Nature”near Kibbutz Reim, near Gaza, which became one of the first targets of Hamas militants who crossed into Israel from Palestinian territory early Saturday morning, the country’s worst attack in decades took place.

“I heard shots from all sides, they were shooting at us from both sides,” Nani said. Reuters. “Everyone was running and didn’t know what to do. “It was complete chaos.”

While the fire rockets exploded around them, those present in panic tried to escape as best they could.

“At some point, my friend and I got into a car with people we didn’t know and drove off,” said 23-year-old Zohar Maariv. After the car was shot, fled on foot and hid for hours until they were rescued. Her boyfriend Matan, who worked at the party, is still missing.

At least 700 Israelis died and dozens more were abducted in the Gaza Strip, scenes that deeply shocked a country that had long prided itself on its effective military and security services.

Only at the “Nature Party,” as Israeli media reported, emergency services gathered 260 corpses.

“It was only this morning that I realized the magnitude of what happened: what happened didn’t just happen at a party, it was that the whole south was burning,” Maariv said.

After hours of running, Nani and his friend finally reached the shelter, where they heard horrific stories from other escapees. “People talk about murders “What they saw before their eyes: someone who saw an entire family kidnapped and a little girl killed,” he said.