Brazilian man who attended rave in Israel attacked by Hamas militants played dead for hours inside bunker as grenades and gas bombs were tossed inside
- Rafael Zimerman suffered shrapnel wounds to the back after Hamas militants tossed gas and grenades inside a bunker near the festival site in Israel
- The Brazil native said he played for dead for multiple hours as people around him were on fire or had already died
- The attack on Saturday left at least 900 people dead in Israel; Israeli military strikes have killed more than 680 in Gaza
A Brazilian man was forced to play dead inside a bunker near an Israeli festival site as Hamas terrorists threw gas bombs and grenades into the facility.
Now, the victim of the attack that left at least 260 dead is speaking out about the harrowing ordeal.
‘We were just young people at a party,’ Rafael Zimerman said. ‘You know, celebrating life, and out of nowhere people who want death interrupt it?’
Zimerman was among the hundred revelers who attended a festival near the border with Gaza, where Hamas militants arrived and slaughtered members of the crowd.
The sophisticated assault that surprised Israeli intelligence was launched by land, sea and air, and has left 900 people dead in Israel and more than 680 in Gaza.
The assault is said to be the deadliest in the country’s 75 years of existence.
As thousands of rockets were unleashed into Israel, Hamas militants also stormed into nearby Israeli towns and kibbutzim, gunning down civilians.
The militant group took at least 100 hostages – including several from the festival – and took them back into Gaza, where some were paraded before cheering crowds.
It sparked full-blown conflict in the region with Israel launching counter-attacks.
Rafael Zimerman, of Brazil, was wounded by shrapnel after Hamas militants threw gas and grenades inside a bunker where he and about 50 people were hiding following Saturday’s attack in Israel
Zimerman said he and two friends had thoughts about leaving the bunker, but chose not to because of the fear of coming into contact with Hamas militants
At least 260 people were killed at an electronic music festival in Israel on Saturday. Three Brazilian who attended the rave are still missing
From his hospital bed, Zimerman told TV Globo that he, his friend Ranani Glazer, a Brazilian national who is missing, and Ranani’s girlfriend, managed to flee the electronic music party grounds in Be’er-Sheva and found refuge inside a bunker.
Members of the extremist group fired gas and grenades inside the underground shelter where about 50 festival attendees feared for their lives.
Zimmerman thought about leaving the bunker because people around him were set on fire, but he chose to stay alongside multiple people who were killed and wounded.
‘The chance of me coming face to face with a terrorist was enormous. So, I ended up pretending I was dead for hours,’ he said.
Zimmerman recalled a woman repeatedly bit him for no reason.
‘Everyone wanted to survive and I remembered there was a girl who was desperate, desperate,’ he said. ‘She started biting me, biting me, biting me, biting me … and I couldn’t breathe at the same time.’
A police officer, according to CNN Brazil, pulled him and Glazer’s girlfriend out of the bunker.
Because medical facilities in Be’er-Sheva were at capacity with patients, Zimerman was airlifted to Soroka Hospital, two hours away in Haifa. He received treatment for shrapnel wounds to his back and was discharged Sunday.
Zimerman was discharged from an Israeli hospital Sunday after he was injured during the Hamas military attack
Ranani Glazer is one of three Brazilian natives who are missing in Israel after attending the electronic music festival that was attacked by Hamas
Celeste Fishbein is one of three Brazilian nationals who have not been seen since Saturday. It’s unknown if they are among the 130 people being held hostage by Palestinian militant groups
Bruna Valeanu, a native of Brazil, went missing after Saturday’s attack at a music festival in Israel
Zimerman remembers partying alongside other electronic music aficionados when Hamas fighters raided the festival site.
Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also confirmed Brazilian nationals Bruna Valeanu and Celeste Fishbein, both of whom attended the rave, are missing.
At least 14,000 Brazilians live in Israel and about 6,000 more in Palestine.
It’s unknown if Glazer, Fishbein and Valeanu are among 130 people who are being held hostage by Palestinian militant groups. The group has said it will begin to execute hostages and share the footage with the world.
Zimerman, a Brazilian, remembers watching people around him inside the bunker on fire and dead after Hamas militant tossed gas and grenades into the bunker they were hiding in
A distressing image, shared in a pixellated form on the Israeli government’s official Twitter page, showed scores of victims placed in body bags underneath a tent at the festival site
A Palestian militant and a captured man at the festival, in an image from video footage posted on the Telegram channel South First Responders
Israelis inspect a damaged residential building in Ashkelon, Israel, after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Monday
The Israeli government responded to the attack by launching air strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza. It has also cut off electricity, food, water and fuel, to the area.
The Israeli military has recalled around 300,000 military reservists.
In an audio released by the militant group Monday night, Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said that it will kill one Israeli civilian hostage any time Israel targets civilians in their homes in Gaza ‘without prior warning.’
Obeida said that Israeli military air strikes have increased on civilian areas in which homes were destroyed over people’s heads.
‘We have decided to put an end to this and as of now and we declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of one the hostages of civilians we are holding,’ he said.
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