Around 260 mostly young people were massacred at the rave party near the Gaza border on Saturday, in the single biggest atrocity on what was the deadliest day for Israeli civilians in the history of the country.
Social media feeds were filled with horrifying videos of men, women and children being carried into the Gaza Strip, some of them appearing to have been abused; others wounded.
Family members were desperately looking for their relatives on Sunday, with many saying they felt abandoned by the government.
Thousands had attended the all-night rave Friday night near Kibbutz Re’im, close to the border, one of a number of sites attacked by terrorists who had infiltrated from the Gaza Strip.
Ora Kuperstein told Channel 12 her family was looking for her nephew, 21-year-old Bar, who was working at the party when he was kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
Kuperstein said that the family was desperate and not getting any help from the authorities.
“Nobody has told us anything. Nobody is helping us. It’s chaos,” she told Channel 12 news. “His parents know nothing.”
The Israeli death toll from the surprise Hamas attack launched yesterday morning has today risen to over 700.
At least 2,048 Israelis are injured, including at least 20 in critical condition and at least 330 seriously wounded.
The IDF has killed over 400 terrorists and has retaken some sites infiltrated by the terrorists. It remains locked in gun battles with Hamas terrorists in areas across the south. This morning, police neutralised a terrorist car heading from Gaza towards Ashdod.
Rocket fire from Gaza into Israel also continues, with the total launched since yesterday morning now believed to exceed 4,000. This morning, four Israelis were injured – one critically – when a rocket hit Sderot.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel continues airstrikes against terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip. The IDF confirmed that it today hit three terror command centres associated with both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
This morning, IDF naval commandos also intercepted and killed a five-person terror cell trying to infiltrate Israel via the Zikim beach.
With Israeli family members beginning to publicly identify relatives kidnapped by Hamas from online videos, the number of Israelis taken hostage and transported to the Gaza Strip is still unknown. Unconfirmed reports suggest there could be up to 100, while an Egyptian mediator claimed today that there are at least “several dozen”.
The IDF has established a situation room dedicated to the hostages, and reports suggest there has been at least one Brit kidnapped, with a second Brit named amongst those killed.
The IDF has begun evacuating civilians from southern border towns.
In parallel to the south, in the north this morning mortar shells were launched at Israeli military sites in the Mount Dov region on the Lebanon border. Israel responded with artillery fire towards the area of the launches.
The IDF also confirmed that it had launched a drone strike against a Hezbollah tent constructed over the Blue Line, and that it then fired warning shots when Hezbollah operatives came to try to rebuild it.
(With reporting by Middle East think tank Bicom)
