Paragliders fired on fleeing civilians: How groups of Palestinians soared over Israeli border on suicide missions – spreading fear and chaos among collapsing families below
- Hamas flew into Israel on paragliders as thousands of rockets rained down
Hamas terrorists flew into Israel on motorized paragliders in a lightning offensive yesterday morning as thousands of rockets rained down across the south of the country.
Footage shows groups of Palestinians on suicide missions hovering over the border with the plane, spreading fear and chaos among huddled families below before they land and open fire on Israeli civilians and soldiers.
It was one of a number of methods the Palestinians used to breach Israel’s fortress-like defenses around the Gaza Strip.
The terrorists fired around 2,500 missiles at Israel from 07:00 UK time. As they rained down on major towns, and even as far away as Tel Aviv nearly 50 miles away, fighters used explosives to break through the border fence.
Convoys of motorcycles and vans then sped toward Israel while other terrorists reportedly jumped into heavily armed speedboats to storm naval defenses.
Footage shows groups of Palestinians flying across the border on suicide missions
Brutal gun battles were seen taking place as Hamas militants descended on Israel via land, sea and air
A building in Tel Aviv was damaged by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip on October 7
A man runs in the road as fires burn in Ashkelon, Israel, following rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip initiated by the Islamist militant group Hamas
As the surprise coordinated attack took hold, Hamas released slick footage 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 as they came into land before storming nearby buildings.
It was part of a strategy to spread maximum panic about Israelis waking up on the last day of the Jewish holiday Sukkot.
As Hamas’ fighters poured into the country, they targeted civilians, with young Israelis at an open-air music concert in the desert among the first to be hit. Footage showed the whistleblowers desperately getting into cars to try to flee the invaders in Beer Sheva.
Nearby, in the town of Nahal Oz, terrified residents were forced to hide in their homes.
As day broke, men were seen fighting brutal gun battles at close range in towns, with bodies – including civilians – soon piling up on the streets as the deadliest attack the country has endured in years unfolded.
Hamas also began rounding up hostages, with one elderly woman kidnapped and loaded onto a golf cart that sped back to Gaza.
Another woman was crushed between two fighters on a motorcycle. Horrific images also showed a naked female Israeli being paraded through the streets on the back of a truck.
Rockets launched from the coastal Gaza Strip into Israel by militants of the Ezz Al-Din Al Qassam militia, the military wing of Hamas movement
Members of the Israeli soldiers seek shelter on the side of a street in Ashkelon as sirens wail as barrage rockets are fired from the Gaza Strip
Palestinians celebrate at a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence on Saturday afternoon
Another woman was seen tied up and loaded into a military truck, while one young man was stripped down to his pants and led around in a choke hold.
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 was holding “a large number” of Israeli prisoners, including senior officers, adding that they would be used in a prisoner exchange deal to exchange Palestinian prisoners. to free in Israeli prisons.
Palestinians also captured Israeli military vehicles and paraded them through the streets of Gaza. A dead Israeli soldier’s body was seen being dragged out of one and trampled by a baying crowd.
