Israeli survivor of Hamas attack on Supernova music festival recalls being shot and thinking, "I'm gonna die"

Tel Aviv — One of the most brutal parts of the Palestinian militant group Hamas' siege on southern Israel over the weekend was an attack on a music festival in the southern Israeli desert, not far from the Gaza Strip border. At least 260 people enjoying the music early Saturday morning were killed when Hamas gunmen stormed the festival.

The Supernova trance music festival was billed as a celebration of "friends, love and infinite freedom," but it turned into a nightmare, and then a massacre.

The sun had just come up, but the party was still going. Then, festivalgoers started spotting something in the sky.

Moments later, the festival site was hurled into chaos as heavily armed Hamas militants swooped down on paragliders, making the joyous gathering one of their first targets as they launched an unprecedented assault on Israel.

The militants shot indiscriminately into the frantic crowd and grabbed as many captives as they could. At least 260 bodies were recovered from the site, according to one aid group.

Gal Levy barely managed to escape.

"We heard the bullets… everybody started running," the 22-year-old told CBS News of the instant panic.

He was shot in both legs and isn't sure if he'll ever walk again. He showed CBS News one of the bullets removed by surgeons at a hospital in central Israel.

He recalled a "terrorist standing above me with a gun," demanding that he hand over his phone and money.

Levy said his own country bears part of the blame for his condition.

"The IDF [Israeli military], I don't know who — but they just left us over there," he said, breaking down in tears as he recalled waiting six hours for help.

"I feel let down by the government. I feel let down by the army," he said. "I lost like two liters of blood, and I was really sure after the guy that came — the terrorist, to take us — that that's it. I'm gonna die."

He said he spoke to his parents as he lay waiting for help, but he didn't have the heart to tell them how bad shape he was really in.

"I told my parents, like, 'All good, I'm OK.'"

Levy's parents know he's safe now, but that's not the case for so many others, with well over 1,000 people now dead in Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has been retaliating. 

The IDF said it carried out 500 strikes between Sunday night and Monday morning alone.

As Palestinian officials said almost 600 people were killed in the Gaza strikes as of Monday, it quickly became clear that the 2.3 million Palestinians who live in the densely-packed, blockaded sliver of land — the vast majority of whom had no say in Hamas' assault on Israel — will be paying the ultimate price.

In:
• War
• Hamas
• Israel
• Hezbollah
• Music
• Palestinians
• Gaza Strip
• Middle East

Imtiaz Tyab

Imtiaz Tyab is a CBS News correspondent based in London.

Twitter