A Palestinian terrorist opened fire Thursday on a group of journalists visiting the site of a music festival in Israel where 260 people were killed over the weekend, forcing journalists to disperse as the Israeli army retaliated on the ‘man.
The attacker was later seen arrested, blindfolded and stripped down to his underwear as he was taken away by soldiers.
The dramatic moment was captured by a Fox News crew, who joined others to tour the Supernova festival site.
Hamas attacked the gathering around 6:30 a.m. Saturday, crossing from Gaza and launching its assault.
Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst was among those at the site.
Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst was taken with other journalists to the site of a music festival on the Gaza border. Journalists were there when the shots were fired
Aerial photo shows site of weekend attack on Supernova desert music festival
Israeli soldiers are seen at the music festival site on Thursday
“We heard a gunshot and they are yelling for people to leave the area,” said Yingst, who started running with his team.
His group crouched on the ground, while other journalists were visible sheltering against a wall.
Israeli soldiers ran towards the sound of the gunshot, which came from the eucalyptus forest at the edge of the campsite.
“Lay flat. To set down. Lie completely flat,” Yingst said, as others fled.
Yingst continued: “You can see things are very tense here. Two shots and now they have someone on the ground.
“It’s very tense right now because the soldiers seem to have arrested a Palestinian and he’s handcuffed, they’ve blindfolded him and they’re taking him away. You can see here they’re taking him away.
He added that the scene “gives you a sense of the unpredictability of it all.”
“They don’t know where people are hiding. They might still be in the tree lines here near the Gaza border.
Yingst said a senior commander later told him that the man arrested was a Palestinian activist who had crossed into Israel from Gaza, or who may have remained in the area after Saturday’s attack.
The Palestinian gunman is pictured being taken away Thursday after opening fire at the music festival site.
IDF soldiers are seen restraining a Palestinian on Thursday.
Israeli soldier searches music festival site Thursday
Area around festival site remains tense, five days later
As the scale of the weekend’s horrors became visible, the Israeli military intensified its preparations for a ground invasion and Hamas continued to launch rockets into Israel.
“Now is the time for war,” Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said as his country assembled tanks near the Gaza Strip.
Seeking support for its response, the Israeli government showed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO defense ministers graphic images of children and civilians they claimed Hamas had killed during weekend carnage in Israel.
Blinken said they showed a baby “riddled with bullets,” decapitated soldiers and burned youths in their cars.
“This is simply depravity in the worst way imaginable,” he said. “This is truly beyond anything we can comprehend.”
Israel vowed to retaliate for the attack, the deadliest by Palestinian militants in Israeli history.
Armed Palestinian activist leading man during Supernova music festival
An armed Palestinian activist walks around the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Reim in the Negev Desert in southern Israel.
Sitting on the back of a terrorist’s motorcycle, arms outstretched aimed at her helpless boyfriend, student Noa Argamani pleads for her life
Consequences: cars burned and abandoned where revelers tried to escape the assault
At least 260 people were killed in the massacre and many people remain missing – either dead or taken hostage by the bloodthirsty militants.
Like others around the world, Blinken urged Israel to exercise restraint, but he also reiterated America’s support, saying: “We will always be here with you.” »
On Friday, he was due to meet King Abdullah and Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in Jordan as part of a Middle East tour aimed at stopping the fallout from the war.
America’s top diplomat, Blinken, planned to visit key U.S. allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, some with influence on Hamas, an Islamist group backed by Iran.
Halevi said lessons would be learned from the security failures around Gaza that enabled the attack.
“We will learn, investigate, but now is the time for war,” he said.
The US military imposes no conditions on its security assistance to Israel, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, adding that Washington expects the Israeli military to “do the right things” in the continuation of its war against Hamas.
Austin was scheduled to travel to Israel on Friday and planned to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hamas called on Palestinians to rise up Friday to protest Israeli bombardment of the enclave, urging them to march to East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and confront Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank.
The Kan public broadcaster said the Israeli death toll stood at more than 1,300.
The American death toll stands at 27.
Many Israeli and foreign hostages were brought back to Gaza; Israel said it had identified 97 of them.
Israel has so far responded by besieging Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, and launching a bombing campaign that has destroyed entire neighborhoods.
Gaza authorities said more than 1,500 Palestinians had been killed.
