Horrifying footage shows the moment a terrified festival-goer is stripped and beaten by Hamas as he is driven to Gaza after the Israeli festival massacre.
Omer Wenkert (22), a restaurant manager from Israel, was among the crowd at the Tribe of Nova festival in Re’im when gunmen from Hamas stormed the site and opened fire, killing at least 260 people.
And disturbing video shows him being beaten and punched by terrorists as he is kidnapped and driven away in the back of a white van.
As Hamas terrorists surround him, Omer can be seen lying naked in his underwear, while men with machine guns pound his body.
Omer, who is still alive, can be seen turning his head to the camera in desperation as the truck drives off in the distance.
Ricardo Grichener, Omer’s uncle has now issued a desperate plea after discovering that his nephew is still alive after arriving in Gaza.
Horrifying footage shows horrified festival-goer stripped and beaten by Hamas as he is driven to Gaza after Israeli festival massacre
A photo of Omer shows he was still alive after arriving in Gaza
Omer Wenkert (22), a restaurant manager from Israel, was among the crowd at the Tribe of Nova festival in Re’im when gunmen from Hamas stormed the site and opened fire, killing at least 260 people.
“We found traces of him and already one photo in Gaza,” he told MailOnline.
Mr Grichener explained how his cousin suffers from colitis and ‘can’t survive’ without his medication.
‘Hamas refused to let the Red Cross give him medication. It is a crime against humanity’, he said.
Mr Grichener added: ‘It’s terrible. Hamas is responsible for its well-being. They must be smart enough to give him his medication.
‘The situation is cruel and it’s terrible to see my cousin in this situation.
“But last we know of him, he was alive, and we will continue to pray for his safe return until he comes home.”
Mr Grichener said that Omer was last contacted on Saturday morning.
‘He called his parents at 07:00 in the morning and told them he heard shooting. 30 minutes later the communication was lost.
‘So we knew something terrible was happening. We tried to trace his location but we could not. Later that day we found a video of his abduction.’
Omer needs medication for his colitis, without which he ‘won’t survive’, his uncle said
The Israeli rescue service Zaka said at least 260 bodies had been removed from the festival site. In the photo: Partygoers flee the festival scene on Saturday
At least 260 people died at the festival in southern Israel on Saturday.
Countless more were injured in attacks as armed Hamas militants swept through.
Around 3,500 people are believed to have attended the festival, although reports vary.
Gunmen entered the festival in vans while others descended from motorized paragliders.
Hamas took an unknown number of hostages from the festival.
Fears have increased for the safety of British national Jake Marlowe (26), who has been missing since Saturday.
He was working at the Supernova festival, near the Gaza Strip, when Palestinian militants stormed the site at dawn, firing rockets and sending in terrorists armed with guns to attack.
More than 100 people have been taken hostage since the invasion began on Saturday.
Thomas Helm, Jerusalem correspondent for The National, told MailOnline on Saturday that locals had expected a rocket attack but were stunned by the nature of the full attack.
‘What’s so shocking about this one is the creativity. People planned for a big rocket shower. This is what we have been worrying about for a long time. But for people to fly in on hang gliders, it’s unreal,’ he said.
“What it does more than anything else is break this sense that Israel… whenever you talk to an Israeli general, they’re obsessed with deterrence. And they worry that their deterrence has been reduced in recent months. But it crushes it.’
Israel has responded with devastating airstrikes in recent days and announced it will push through a “total siege” of Gaza, affecting 2.3 million people living in the strip.
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said: ‘There will be no electricity, food or fuel (delivered to Gaza).
“We are fighting barbarians (terrorists) and will respond accordingly.”
Some 300,000 reservists were called up as Israel gained momentum.
With the siege, the country is now trying to ‘prepare their supporters’ for the possibility that ‘it’s going to be a long war’, Helm told MailOnline this evening.
Hamas fighters bypassed Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip by paragliding, according to the Israeli military (photo: an alleged paraglider crossing into Israel)
The aftermath of an attack on a music festival by Palestinian militants, near Kibbutz Reim in the Negev desert in southern Israel on October 8
Hamas has responded to increasing airstrikes by threatening to execute its hostages and sharing evidence online.
Qatar has since attempted to broker de-escalation talks with Israel and Hamas, with the goal of reaching an agreement under which both sides release prisoners.
The ongoing negotiations, which Qatar has been conducting in coordination with the United States since Saturday night, are “moving positively,” a source told Reuters earlier today.
“We are in constant contact with all sides at the moment. Our priorities are to end the bloodshed, release the prisoners and make sure the conflict is contained with no regional spillover,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said.