When Hamas gunmen crossed into Israel on Saturday, they attacked a techno music festival being held in the desert near Gaza. The rescue service Zaka said on Sunday it removed about 260 bodies from the festival, and the toll was expected to rise as other paramedic teams were working in the area.

One attendee is offering a firsthand account of what the attacks in Israel were like for those who were there.

What You Need To Know

  • A attendee at a music festival held in the desert near Gaza describes harrowing experience at Gaza Israeli border

  • Israeli citizen and one-time camp counselor at Camp Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes, Ofek Liveni, narrowly escaped music festival that was assaulted by Hamas

  • The rescue service Zaka said on Sunday it removed about 260 bodies from the festival, and the toll was expected to rise as other paramedic teams were working in the area.

Israel citizen Ofek Liveni spent time in the U.S. in 2019, including as a camp counselor at Camp Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes. He now shares the details of living through a harrowing experience near the Gaza border over the weekend.

"We were dancing [and] having fun and then we heard bombing," Liveni said.

He was one of several thousand people attending the outdoor Tribe of Nova Festival, an all-night dance party near the Israeli-Gaza border.

“In like 20 minutes it was like 500 missiles,” Liveni said. “And it’s like, boom boom boom boom. And you directly go to the ground and you put your hands over your head and basically praying nothing’s going to happen to you.”

But the assault did not end with the missile strike.

“And we didn’t realize there was another attack coming on foot,” he said. “And after a couple of minutes, I guess 20 minutes, we start to hear shooting, like gun shootings. And we realize, me and my friends, OK something else is happening here.”

Hamas militants were on the ground opening fire at festivalgoers.

“I realized [that] I can’t let it happen,” Liveni said. “I’m going to keep me and my friends safe no matter what.”

Liveni said he made a beeline for his car, running toward the terrorists, literally dodging bullets.

“I don’t know how, but no one shot me,” he said. “I mean, they tried."

He got the car and headed back for his friends.

“And I thought I need to get as much people as I can get into my car,” Liveni said. “So, it’s not a big car. I got 10 people inside, like stuffed in together."

They drove the car through the fields trying to escape.

“You can hear the shooting,” Liveni said. “You can hear the bombing. The screaming. You can see the people running. It was really overwhelming. I felt strong in the moment because I felt I needed to be strong for my family and my friends. It wasn’t easy and we didn’t realize what happened until we got home that we were under attack and everyone that didn’t run away. We know what happened. They got either shot or injured or kidnapped. I saw in my eyes [that] some people got shot, which I’m speechless about that. It wasn’t a good memory for me and I hope later I’m going to process that and move on.”

Despite the traumatic experience, Liveni remains positive.

“The Israeli people and the Jewish people in Israel are strong,” he said. “And we all have hope. And we know we’re all going to [survive]. “Like the Holocaust and like Yom Kippur and like the Six-Day War. We know we’re going to survive. And we’re going to get stronger and better. We just want to live here in peace and have fun and laugh and grow up with our families and co-exist together with everyone around us.”