Survivors of Hamas assault on music fest describe horrors and how they made it out alive

Geoff Bennett:

One of the most notorious incidents of this weekend's attack on Israel was one of its first, an assault on an all-night music festival in Southern Israel.

Police say Hamas gunmen killed more than 250 people and took an unknown number hostage.

Nick Schifrin speaks to two survivors of this terror in the desert.

Nick Schifrin:

The dashcam footage may be silent, but speaks loudly of horror, a Hamas gunman taking a hostage, another ensuring a victim was dead, the awful aftermath of what had been an all-night party that became a nightmare for thousands, including Raz Cohen.

Raz Cohen, Survivor of Music Festival Attack: At 6:00 a.m., we start to hear all the rockets. So, we started to hear the gunshots and a lot of people screaming. We go to hide under the stage, the main stage of the festival.

One of the people that hide with me see a terrorist, and they told everyone to run away. And that's what we did. The terrorists shoot on us. And I saw a lot of people died in my eyes, I — murdered in my eyes. People get shot in the head, in the shoulder. A lot of dead bodies.

We go to hide in a bush, a big bush in the creek. And we was in the bush something like six or seven hours. A lot of terrorists go around us and search for people to kill. The terrorists, people from Gaza, raped girls. And after they raped them, they killed them, murdered them with knives, or the opposite, killed — and after they raped, they — they did that.

They laughed. They always laughed. It's — I can't forget how they laughed on the — in this situation.

Nick Schifrin:

His friend Maya (ph) is still missing. His friend Karina (ph) was killed.

You're a soldier. You have fought. Have you ever seen anything like this? How terrifying were these moments for you?

Raz Cohen:

I don't think that the words can even explain how it was terrifying.

Nick Schifrin:

Shelly Barel and her husband, Yoav (ph), also suffered that descent from euphoric rave to terror.

Shelly Barel, Survivor of Music Festival Attack: It was very unbelievable. It's like nightmare.

We start, we run away from the missiles, but after this, we understand that we need to run away from terrorists too.

Nick Schifrin:

They could think of only one thing, surviving for their children.

Shelly Barel:

Then I ask him if this is the time to say "I love you," because didn't know what is going to happen. We have two children, 3 and 5.

And I just want to be home. We didn't say — we didn't say, "I love you." We didn't want to do it, to say goodbye.

Nick Schifrin:

What have you told your children happened?

Shelly Barel:

Nothing. What can you say to 5-year-old? What you're going to say? When the sirens of the rocket is on, we just go to the safe room. And we have candies there. And we play and let them know that it's OK.

And there was a thunder, very big. And my daughter asked me if this is the time to go to the safe room. She's 3 years old. It's crazy.

Nick Schifrin:

But survivors don't only feel fear. There's also anger.

You're being called up next week, possibly to fight. How do you feel about that?

Raz Cohen:

I think that I need this. I need the — the revenge to live with myself.

They kill a lot of us, my brothers, my sisters. We are a big family in Israel. All of us, we are brothers and sisters, one big family. And if they do something like this, I have to revenge.

Nick Schifrin:

How do you think this attack, these attacks will change Israel?

Raz Cohen:

How they change Israel? If Gaza was on the map, after this, Gaza don't continue be on the map of Israel. That's going to be the change.

Nick Schifrin:

Israel's government vows that revenge will — quote — "reverberate for generations."

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.