© Reuters. Brothers Rada Rashed, 33, and Raif Rashed, 39, from the Israeli Druze minority, recount to Reuters how they survived the October 7 Nova Pageant assault, in Daliyat Al-Karmel, Israel October 30, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad.
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By Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh and Leonardo Benassatto
DALIYAT AL-KARMEL, Israel (Reuters) – Employed to cater for an all-night Israeli music pageant, Rada and Raif Rashed fled for his or her lives simply after daybreak, when Hamas militants rampaged by the group on Oct. 7 turning the celebration into a spot of horror.
The brothers noticed partygoers falling round them as 250 folks have been killed within the shock cross-border assault that precipitated the worst hostilities for many years within the Israeli-Palestinian battle.
“What I lived by on Oct. 7 are unbelievable issues. What I’ve seen I by no means imagined to see,” Rada, 33, mentioned when again with household in northern Israel, practically 200km (125 miles) from the pageant website close to Kibbutz Re’im.
“On this present day, I used to be reborn. I now have two start dates; the unique one on March 15 and the brand new one is on Oct. 7.”
Rada and his brother Raif, 39, have been caterers on the Nova pageant, near Gaza, when the Hamas gunmen arrived. Each are from Israel’s Druze Arab minority, a sect whose religion attracts its roots from Islam.
The brothers have been separated within the chaos, and he paired up with one other pageant employee.
“Bullets have been hitting close to my face. I do not understand how. The ladies round have been shot down, and I used to be ready to get hit. Then I noticed a gap, prefer it was dug by somebody. We went into it,” Rada mentioned. “We stayed there till the capturing stopped for some time.”
Younger girls on the pageant “have been begging Hamas members to not kill them,” he mentioned. “However they have been having enjoyable with them. They took them by their hair and shot them within the head. Why? I’ll by no means see a day harder than that day. It’s the hardest day within the historical past of the nation.”
Raif ran by timber to a parked automobile, filming as he fled with the sound of gunfire within the background. When he reached the automobile he mentioned he regarded round and noticed 10 militants simply 50 metres away, attacking youths with hammers.
“I perceive Arabic, you already know, I heard them, and I do not perceive why it is actually taking place right here presently,” Raif mentioned.
“I known as the police and requested him for assist, I advised him we’re like 30 folks right here, 30 youngsters with out something, with none assist, now we have nothing to avoid wasting life. And ship helicopter, one thing, I do not know. They usually advised me no we won’t attain you, simply be quiet and conceal everybody.”
Israel says 1,400 folks have been killed by Hamas militants within the rampage by Israeli cities and Kibbutzes and round 240 hostages have been taken, a lot of them considered in captivity in Hamas’s huge Gaza tunnel community which Israeli troops have begun attacking.
Well being authorities within the Hamas-run Gaza Strip say greater than 8,500 folks have been killed in Israel’s assault, together with 3,500 youngsters, since Oct. 7.
