Families were "wiped out", hundreds were held hostage, thousands were killed and lakhs were displaced as Israeli forces and Palestinian military group Hamas continued to launch relentless attacks in parts of Israel and the Gaza Strip on Monday. Since the beginning of the war on Saturday, several stories of distress have thronged social media — some shared by the Israeli ministries and some individual accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Several pictures showed harrowing visuals of the violence that hit Gaza city since the weekend. One image showed Palestinians carrying a woman on a debris-strewn street at Beach refugee camp in the Gaza City, while another showed an Israeli soldier praying while he stood on a tank, as violence around the nearby Gaza Strip mounted following a mass-rampage by armed Palestinian infiltrators, at the Israeli side of the Gaza border.
An Israeli soldier prays while he stands on a tank. (Credit: Reuters)Other images showed Gaza City skyline glowing with fireworks as Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted rockets launched from the Gaza Strip.
(Credit: Reuters)Meanwhile, a US Senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker, recounted how he was surrounded by "frightened faces" during rocket attacks on Israel. He was in Jerusalem when Hamas attacked Israel. In a one-minute video shared on the micro-blogging site, he said, "I am in Israel. About this time yesterday, I was jogging behind me in the Old City when I got an urgent call from my chief of staff telling me to get back to the hotel as quickly as I could, that Israel was under attack."
"When I got back to the hotel, I joined others in the bomb shelter or the stairwell of the hotel. Frightened faces. There were children and elderly families, many Americans. There was a sense of fear and worry and knowledge to many of us that there were horrific things going on around the country at that time," he said in a video message posted early Monday.
I was in Israel when the horrific attacks carried out by Hamas started on Saturday. My team and I are now safe, but like many we are shaken, angered, and heartbroken by the hundreds killed, the thousands injured, those taken hostage, and all who are directly affected by these… pic.twitter.com/E4BgEZxSTC
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) October 8, 2023
Many children also fell victim to the ongoing attacks. Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group claim to have taken captive more than 130 people from inside Israel and brought them into Gaza. The captives are known to include soldiers and civilians, including women, children and older adults, mostly Israelis but also some people of other nationalities.
"I was hugging my mom all the time and holding her hand tight," a nine-year-old boy, who was reportedly hiding from Hamas terrorists, said. A purported audio clip of the boy seeking help in distress was shared by the Israel Defence Forces on X.
ON THE RADIO: 9 year-old boy hiding from Hamas terrorists.
Credit: Kan Reshet Bet pic.twitter.com/wXQRQyRcf5— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 8, 2023
Meanwhile, a BBC report quoted two senior members of the Israeli military comparing October 7's attacks from Gaza to the 9/11 attacks on the US. "This is our 9/11..."They got us," spokesman Major Nir Dinar was quoted as saying.
(Credit Reuters)Another tweet reported by Israel's foreign ministry said a " beautiful couple was slaughtered in their homes by Hamas terrorists...Their children are now orphans." In another post, it alleged, "In the past 36 hours Israelis have been butchered in their homes by Hamas terrorists...More than 700 Israelis were massacred by Hamas terrorists and the death toll keeps rising".
Remember their names:
Tamar, Yonatan and their children Shachar (6), Arbel (6), Omer (4) were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Oz.More than 700 Israelis were massacred by Hamas terrorists and the death toll keep rising.Remember their names! pic.twitter.com/YUklC9jNpE— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 9, 2023
Over 100 were reportedly kept captive by Hamas amid the ongoing assault. The captives are known to include soldiers and civilians, including women, children and older adults, mostly Israelis but also some people of other nationalities. The Israeli military said only that the number of captives is “significant", the Associate Press reported on Monday.
The AP report mentioned the misery of a divorced mother of two, Mayyan Zin, who said she learned that her two daughters had been abducted when a relative sent her photos from a Telegram group showing them sitting on mattresses in captivity.
She then found online videos of a chilling scene in her ex-husband’s home in the town of Nahal Oz: Gunmen who had broken in speaking to him, his leg bleeding, in the living room near the two terrified, weeping daughters, Dafna, 15, and Ella, 8. Another video showed the father being taken across the border into Gaza, the report claimed.
Boys cry as they attend the funeral of Palestinians from the Shamalkh family, who health officials said were killed in Israeli strikes, in Gaza City. (Credit: Reuters)Amid the hue and cry, AlJazeera also reported some tales of misery from the war-hit areas. “We fear the end of life as we know it," the report cited Gaza residents as saying as they remained terrified in the wake of Israeli airstrikes.
As the strikes continue from both sides, Israel officials claim that the war might linger on for a few days, while Hamas said it wants to “liberate all Palestinian prisoners” from Israel and end Israeli provocations in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, particularly at Al-Aqsa Mosque. As of October 9 around 2:45 pm, at least 700 people were reportedly killed in Israel and more than 400 were killed in Gaza. Palestinian militant groups claimed to be holding over 130 captives from the Israeli side, news agency AP reported.
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