Bomb shelter massacres on October 7, 2023
Death Shelters is a term used for the roadside bomb shelters or "protected spaces" where dozens of young Israelis were killed or taken hostage while fleeing the Nova [music festival massacre] on October 7, 2023.
Background
As part of the [October 7 attacks|surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023], fighters who Israeli sources describe as Hamas' Nukhba forces arrived at a music festival called "Nova Festival," which took place in a forest near Kibbutz Re'im on the night between October 6 and 7, 2023. Hamas forces raided the festival, killing 364 civilians and injuring hundreds of others. Additionally, 44 individuals were kidnapped by Hamas forces and other organizations to the Gaza Strip, some of whom were later released as part of a hostage exchange and "Operation Arnon." During the massacre, the militants also committed sexual assaults and rapes. This was the largest terrorist attack in Israel's history.For several decades, Israeli law has mandated shelters, known individually as Merkhav Mugan. The first security room or shelter was based on a 1951 civil defense law which has gone through several revisions after major events such as being targeted with Scud missiles in the Gulf War. The shelters are reportedly designed to withstand blast and shrapnel from standard weapons, and to offer some protection against chemical and biological weapons.
Attacks and abductions during 7 October 2023
Re'im Junction shelter
Upon the arrival of the militants at the scene, about 50 festival-goers fled to the fortified shelter at Re'im Junction, where they sought refuge, including Aner Shapira and Hersh Goldberg-Polin. According to survivors' testimonies, Shapira was the last to enter the shelter. When Hamas militants reached the shelter, Shapira armed himself with a broken bottle and stood at the entrance to fight off the attackers. One of the militants began throwing grenades one by one through the entrance of the shelter, aiming to harm those inside. Shapira, who stood close to the shelter's entrance, intercepted the grenades and threw them back out, away from the shelter. After blocking seven grenades this way, the eighth grenade exploded in his hand, killing him. Hamas assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the entrance of the shelter.Subsequently, Hamas forces and other organizations entered the shelter and violently dragged out the young survivors, some of whom were injured to varying degrees, and loaded them onto trucks to be kidnapped to the Gaza Strip. Among the kidnapped was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who lost his hand. Several survivors played dead for hours to avoid being kidnapped or killed.