Paragliders fired at fleeing civilians: how groups of Palestinians flew over the Israeli border on suicide missions, spreading fear and chaos among cowering families below
- Hamas flew into Israel on paragliders as thousands of rockets rained down
Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel on motorized paragliders in a lightning offensive yesterday morning, as thousands of rockets rained down on the south of the country.
Footage showed groups of Palestinians flying over the border on suicide missions, sowing fear and chaos among cowering families below before landing and opening fire on Israeli civilians and soldiers alike.
This was one of the methods used by the Palestinians to break the Israeli defense line around the Gaza Strip.
The terrorists fired around 2,500 rockets into Israel from 7am UK time. As it rained on major cities and as far away as Tel Aviv, nearly 50 miles away, fighters used explosives to breach the border fence.
Convoys of motorcycles and pickup trucks then rushed into Israel, while other terrorists reportedly jumped into heavily armed speedboats to storm the sea defense line.
Images showed groups of Palestinians flying across the border on suicide missions
Brutal shootings took place as Hamas militants descended on Israel by land, sea and air
A building in Tel Aviv is damaged by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip on October 7
A man runs on the road as fires burn in Ashkelon, Israel, after rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip initiated by the Islamic militant group Hamas
As the coordinated surprise attack took place, Hamas published sharp images online showing its men training on the high-speed paragliders ahead of the invasion. Each pilot was armed with a machine gun which they began firing when they reached land before storming nearby buildings.
It was part of a strategy to sow maximum panic among Israelis waking up on the last day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
As Hamas fighters swarmed into the country, they targeted civilians, with young Israelis at an outdoor music concert in the desert among the first to be hit. Footage showed revelers desperately climbing into cars in an attempt to flee the invaders in Be’er Sheva.
Nearby, in the town of Nahal Oz, terrified residents were forced to hide in their homes.
As the day wore on, we saw men engage in brutal, close-quarters gun battles in cities, with bodies – including civilians – quickly piling up in the streets as the deadliest attack the country has seen in years unfolded.
Hamas also began capturing hostages, kidnapping an elderly woman and loading her into a golf cart that sped back to Gaza.
Another woman was trapped between two fighters on a motorcycle. Gruesome footage also showed a naked female Israeli being paraded through the streets on the back of a truck.
Rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel by militants from the Ezz Al-Din Al Qassam militia, the military wing of the Hamas movement
Members of the Israeli Defense Forces take cover on the side of a street in Ashkelon as sirens blare as a barrage of rockets is fired from the Gaza Strip
Palestinians celebrate Saturday afternoon at a destroyed Israeli tank at the fence of the Gaza Strip
Another woman was tied up and loaded into a military truck, while a young man was stripped to his pants and put in a chokehold.
An elderly woman with dementia was also among those brutally paraded by the terrorists.
Saleh Arouri, a top Hamas official, told Al-Jazeera TV that his group is holding “a large number” of Israeli prisoners, including high-ranking officers, adding that they will be used in a prisoner exchange deal to transfer Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Palestinians also seized Israeli military vehicles and paraded them through the streets of Gaza. The body of a dead Israeli soldier was seen being dragged out and trampled by a baying crowd.
