Gunmen in homes and captives abducted to Gaza leave Israelis in shock
A resident reported seeing multiple bodies and bullet-scarred vehicles in the southern Israeli town of Sderot where groups of Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli troops 12 hours after the attack was launched.
«I went out, I saw loads of bodies of terrorists, civilians, cars shot up. A sea of bodies, inside Sderot along the road, other places, loads of bodies,» said Shlomi from Sderot.
As night fell, at least 100 were reported dead and more than 1,000 wounded, according to Israeli media, with fighting still raging in more than 20 locations around the Gaza strip.
The assault, on the Jewish Sabbath and coinciding with the religious holiday of Simchat Torah, is unfolding as a major national trauma in a country proud of its strong military.
In one incident, young Israelis told of fleeing a dance party in the early hours of Saturday as Hamas gunmen backed by rocket barrages entered towns and villages by the border.
The rave party was attended by several hundred people near the Israeli kibbutz of Reim, witnesses said. Footage on social media showed dozens of people running through fields and along a road, escaping militants as gun shots were heard.
«The music stopped and there was a rocket siren,» a young woman called Ortal told Israel's N12 News television.
«Suddenly out of nowhere, they started shooting.»
Another party goer, Esther Borochov, said a car had rammed her vehicle as she tried to flee before a young man told her and her friend to jump into his vehicle before he was shot point blank while she played dead until she was rescued.
«I couldn't move my legs,» she told Reuters at the hospital.
