October 7, 2023: Two years since Hamas’s invasion of Israel – Massacres, rapes & kidnappings at kibbutzim & music festivals (videos)
More than 1,200 dead, including infants at kibbutzim and at the Nova music festival – Videos and photos from the day that shocked the global community and would change the course of history in the region – Warning: Graphic content
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On October 7, 2023, during a Jewish holiday, hundreds of Hamas fighters and members of other armed groups crossed the Gaza fence and attacked villages and festivals in southern Israel.
The anniversary comes at a time of critical new negotiations about the future of the region, in the shadow of the Trump peace plan. The new talks, sponsored by Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S., began yesterday in Sharm el-Sheikh and aim to put an end to a war that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
Watch live footage from the scene of the massacre at the SuperNova music festival:
The Timeline of Horror
The attack was coordinated — the assailants carried lists of residents marked for execution or kidnapping — and it was bloody: at least 1,195 people were killed, 815 of them civilians, while 251 civilians and members of the security forces were abducted and taken to Gaza.
Watch the “Medusa” documentary by protothema.gr, filmed in Israel by Giannis Charamidis and Marinos Aleiferis:
The British cross-party “Roberts report” estimated 1,182 killed and over 4,000 injured, noting that 73% of the victims were civilians — ranging from a 14-hour-old newborn to a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor.
The horror unfolded on multiple fronts. Gunmen shot at drivers on roads, fired rockets into homes, used grenades and RPGs to destroy safe rooms, and set houses on fire, burning alive those who were hiding inside.
After the massacre, many perpetrators recorded the crimes with body cameras and mobile phones, broadcasting them on social media or sending them to victims’ relatives — an act described as “digital terrorism.”
The Supernova Music Festival Massacre
The Supernova Music Festival, near Kibbutz Re’im, was one of the first attack sites. Thousands of young people were dancing in the desert when, around 06:40 a.m., rockets began to fall. Within minutes, armed men on motorcycles and pickup trucks surrounded the area, indiscriminately shooting at those running for their lives.
The terrorists threw dozens of grenades into a shelter, causing horrific injuries, while others dragged people by their hair and beat them on camera. According to Human Rights Watch, this was the single deadliest location: at least 364 people were killed. The “Roberts report” puts the toll at over 370.
After being awoken by missile sirens in Tel Aviv, this was the first thing I saw on October 7th. I remember being confused because I thought it was ISIS in Iraq or Syria and didn’t understand why it looked like Sderot, Israel. Several seconds later, I received footage of Hamas… pic.twitter.com/WI6OHym7J8
Many recorded their final moments on their phones or hid in fields for hours as gunmen hunted them down like prey.
Videos show Hamas fighters even firing at portable toilets in case people were hiding inside.
Among the most emblematic images was the abduction of 26-year-old Noa Argamani, captured on a motorcycle, and the body of German-Israeli Shani Louk, seen naked in the back of a truck — images that provoked worldwide outrage.
The body of Shani Louk in a pickup truck as Hamas terrorists cheered.
Noa Argamani, meanwhile, was among the more fortunate: though kidnapped, she survived and was later freed.
Israelis at the Nova Festival site two years later
Two years after the October 7 attacks, the grief for Israel’s victims is still accompanied by the echoes of bombings at the Nova festival site.
Over the past two years, this place has been transformed from a scene of raw violence into a memorial. On this dark anniversary, ordinary people visit the site to lay flowers or leave notes in memory of loved ones — friends, family members, or strangers — who were mercilessly slaughtered by Hamas.
Some videos show severely injured people being dragged out of their cars — from the driver’s seat, passenger seat, or back seats — thrown onto the asphalt and shot from less than a meter away.
In others, Hamas terrorists appear to use moving vehicles with unarmed, unsuspecting passengers as target practice. This took place, among other locations, at Shaar Ha Negev.
Massacres in Kibbutzim: Kfar Aza, Be’eri, and Nir Oz
The gunmen did not stop at the festival grounds. In at least 19 kibbutzim and five moshavim, they went door to door, killing families.
Kfar Aza: at least 56 civilians were killed and 18 abducted (including seven children). Survivors described hiding for 28 hours in safe rooms, listening to the militants eat and destroy property. Israeli rescuers later found the bodies of parents with 10-month-old twins alive beside them in a shelter — the babies had spent the entire day without milk.
Kibbutz Be’eri: at least 97 residents were killed and 30 abducted, including ten children. Witnesses described fighters shooting people in the streets; others hid in bushes for hours, surrounded by burnt cars and screams. Nurse Nirit Hanvald tried to save the wounded in a blood-soaked clinic until they ran out of ammunition.
Nir Oz: the scenes resembled a horror film. At least 38 civilians were killed, and 75 — including at least 15 children — were abducted, the largest number of hostages taken from a single location.
The attack began around 6:49 a.m., when CCTV footage showed fighters with AK-47s entering through multiple gates.
Member of the rapid response team Eran Smilanski described seeing about 100 armed men moving around in trucks, vans, and motorcycles — some dressed in Israeli uniforms, others in civilian clothes. When he emerged after the battle, he found “blood everywhere and burned houses,” and in more than 80% of the homes he entered, he found dead bodies.
Other residents described holding the handle of their reinforced doors with their bare hands for hours to prevent gunmen from breaking in, with no food and only a small amount of water. Yael Benezra, who arrived in the village the following day, found her father dead, his clothes covered in dried blood. She saw burned cars and houses, and remnants of explosives stuck to the metal bars on the shelter windows. Other witnesses spoke of looting — including the theft of children’s clothes and jewelry.
In Sky News’ reporting from Kibbutz Nir Oz, the journalist walked through the destroyed homes with resident Rita Lifshitz. He noted that 117 of the roughly 400 residents were killed or abducted, and that only six houses were left intact. The shelter doors were riddled with bullet holes, and militants had burned beds, tables, and even pianos. A street lined with black flags marked homes where people had been killed, while yellow flags identified those abducted. Inside one house, the blood of Rita’s friend was still smeared on the walls amid scattered belongings and bullet casings.
Rapes and Sexual Violence
In addition to the mass killings, both the Roberts report and Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented extensive sexual assaults. According to the British report, women were gang raped, mutilated, and their bodies desecrated, while some male victims were found beheaded.
HRW, drawing on testimonies, noted that at the Supernova Festival, some victims had genital injuries; naked bodies were found bound and shot in the head — evidence suggesting sexual violence or torture.
Recorded footage showed Shani Louk with torn clothes in a truck while men spat on her. UN investigative teams concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe that rapes and gang rapes occurred at multiple locations, and that some hostages may still be subjected to sexual violence.
The Hostages’ Nightmare
Hamas and other groups abducted 251 people — men, women, children, infants, and elderly. The victims’ ages ranged from a 14-hour-old baby to a 93-year-old woman, underscoring the indiscriminate nature of the attack. Some hostages were taken into Gaza on pickup trucks or motorcycles.
Former hostage Tal Shoham, held for 505 days, later described the conditions: crammed into dark rooms, beaten by guards, and subjected to psychological torture.
Other hostages said their captors forced them to watch videos of the massacres or call their families to send false messages of hope. Some were released only after Hamas reached prisoner–hostage exchange deals.
A Hostage’s Mother Speaks, Two Years On
“I don’t know if my son is alive or dead.”
The mother of an Israeli abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, says she still does not know whether her son is alive, but has “real hope” that U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan will lead to the return of all hostages held in Gaza.
Herut Nimrodi told the BBC that she “fears the worst” for her son Tamir, a non-combat soldier, but still hopes “he is being held somewhere,” two years after his abduction. She said he is the only Israeli hostage whose family has not been told whether he is alive or dead.
“They’ve been trying to reach an agreement for a long time but haven’t succeeded. This time feels different,” Nimrodi said. “There is real hope this is the final deal.” She stressed the importance of releasing all hostages — both living and deceased — in the first phase of the plan. “This is huge, it’s a blessing for us,” she said.
According to the BBC, of the 251 people abducted on October 7, 2023, it is believed that 48 hostages remain in Palestinian territory, with only 20 thought to be alive.
The release of the remaining hostages is a top priority for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In its response to Donald Trump’s peace plan, Hamas agreed to release all remaining Israeli hostages still held in Gaza but requested further negotiations on several issues outlined in the peace proposal.
