‘I probably won’t make it out here’: American who survived festival massacre tells how he sent goodbye text from empty concrete pool where he hid as Hamas gunmen laughed and joked above him after slaughtering 260 concertgoers
A New York man has described how he bid his loved ones a final farewell from his hideout in an empty concrete pool amid the worst civilian massacre in Israel’s history at the Tribe of Nova Trance music festival.
“I probably won’t get out of here. I love you with all my heart,’ Aviv Oz texted his girlfriend after Hamas terrorists stormed the festival grounds in the early hours of Saturday, October 7, reports CNN. Oz told the network that he could hear gunmen laughing and joking around him from his hiding spot.
Oz, 34, told CNN that he was working at the festival as a visual artist when the horror began. The Tribe of Nova festival, held in the semi-forested fields outside Kibbutz Re’im, just a few kilometers from Gaza, was one of the first Hamas targets.
Up to 260 young people are estimated to have lost their lives at the concert, with many more taken hostage by gunmen as dozens of terrorists burst through Israel’s heavily fortified separation fence and entered the country, opening fire on the 3,500 crowd .
‘It was like a scene from Call of Duty, from a battlefield. A real nightmare,’ Oz said in his interview.
New York man Aviv Oz (34) compared the horror that unfolded during Hamas’ music festival massacre to a scene in Call of Duty
At least 260 were killed in the massacre while many are still missing – probably dead or taken hostage by the bloodthirsty militants. As rescuers continue to sift through the deadly wreckage of Sunday’s attack, the Mail tells how the terror unfolded
As soon as the gunfire broke out, Oz said he ran to his car only to find himself stuck in a massive traffic jam as the masses tried to flee. He described the panic as ‘complete chaos’.
Oz left his car and took off on foot in an attempt to escape the attackers. He found a hiding place in an empty concrete pool. Just before his phone died, Oz said he was able to send a few text messages to loved ones.
“According to my understanding, I was going to die, and I had to say goodbye.”
“When I decided to lie down and wait for my death, I could see the terrorists going through,” he said.
Oz described a terrifying scene in which he lay in hiding as Hamas gunmen walked above him, jokingly, as the smell of gunpowder hung in the air.
In total, Oz said he stayed still in the pool for five hours. When the coast appeared clear, he managed to get out and return to his car, which was riddled with bullets. He charged his phone and called for help.
‘The ground was full of innocent people. There was another person, an Israeli woman, who was hiding in the bushes all this time. She joined me, and we waited in panicked silence until special forces found us.’
Despite his ordeal, the Queens native said he still plans to make Israel his full-time home.
Shani Louk (30) was seen struggling to reach her car as it was surrounded by armed terrorists. Her mother said she last spoke to her daughter after she heard rockets and alarms in southern Israel and called to see if she had reached a safe place. Pictured: Tattoo artist Shani Louk at rave
Videos show Hamas members arriving on trucks and motorbikes, with gunmen charging into crowds and shooting at people as they tried to flee into the fields.
Israeli communities near the festival were also attacked, with Hamas gunmen kidnapping people – soldiers, civilians, the elderly and young children – and killing scores of others.
The massacre stunned Israel, which had not seen such bloodshed for decades.
The Hamas attack killed more than 1,300 people in Israel, with subsequent Israeli airstrikes killing more than 1,530 people in Gaza. Israel says around 1,500 Hamas terrorists have been killed in Israel.
In the days since the attack, Israel has hammered the Gaza Strip with airstrikes as they prepare for a possible ground attack.
Israel has also cut off food, fuel and medicine from Gaza’s 2.3 million people, leading aid groups to warn of an impending humanitarian disaster. Israel says the siege will remain in place until the hostages are freed.
On Thursday, a man who tended bar at the festival returned to the scene of the attack. He said he had no choice.
“I feel like I owe them, you know, all the people who were here and were killed,” Peleg Horev told an Associated Press journalist who was allowed to visit the scene. ‘I live, I stayed. I have to tell their story. Every one of them.’
The bodies have been removed from the festival site, but the wreckage of the attack is everywhere.
Bullet-riddled cars, many with their windows shot out, were scattered throughout the festival grounds and nearby roads. Clothes spill out of broken suitcases. A woman’s shirt remains in a tree where it has been hung to dry. A pair of glasses sits on a windowsill. Ticket booths are full of gunfire.
‘Lost and Found’ announces a festival poster hanging on a fence. “Camping area,” said another.
Leaves blow in a gentle breeze as soldiers patrol the area, sometimes falling to the ground to the sound of gunfire in the distance. Security forces are concerned that terrorists may strike again, or that some may still hide and brush in the countryside.
Peleg escaped by walking for hours, deeper into Israel. He avoided the roads, where many who tried to escape by car died when they got stuck behind other vehicles that had been attacked.
“All this time you hear gunshots and screams from far away,” he said. “We’re just going as far as we can as fast as we can.”
He is deeply moved by the reality that he survived and so many others did not.
“I really owe them.”