On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Hamas – rulers of the autonomous Gaza strip – invaded Israel and entered dozens of kibbutzim, villages and towns in the vicinity. Hamas perpetrated the biggest massacre of Jews and Israelis since the holocaust, killing some 1200 men, women, and children and abducting about 250 hostages. As of this writing, there are still 115 hostages held in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be killed by their Palestinian captors.
In this tour we are going to drive along route 232 and visit the Nova festival site, the place where the worst massacre took place. Here Hamas killed 364 mostly young partygoers at a trance music festival. In addition, they took more than 40 hostages, some of whom are still held in Gaza.
Today the Nova site is a memorial to the victims. Often you meet parents, relatives, or friends of those who perished here. They have put up signs of their loved ones – those who were killed and those who are still held hostage. Signs tell some of the many stories of the young victims. For example the story of 27 year old Liron Barda who worked at the festival as a bar manager. While under attack by the Hamas terrorists, instead of fleeing she stayed behind to treat the wounded. She was brutally murdered by Palestinian terrorists, together with the others.
Nearby the festival site was the parking area. Today this place is covered by newly planted trees, one tree for each victim of October 7. Signs are put up with the names of those who were killed.
From the Nova festival site we can drive to the bomb shelter at the bus stop near Re’im. People fleeing the festival site gathered there inside to escape the rocket barrage fired upon Israel. What was supposed to rescue lives during those rocket attacks from Gaza, turned into a death trap. Ayelet Arnin, a 22 years old news editor with the Kan public broadcaster, recorded the events on her cellphone. The recording stopped when the cellphone ran out of power. By then Ayelet was long dead – shot by the terrorists.
Near the bomb shelter are orchards where some of the festival goers were hiding. Hamas terrorists had noticed that and sought the survivors – to kill them too. Some of them did survive and told their harrowing stories.
The biggest town near the Gaza Strip is Sderot, where terrorists entered and shot dozens of people, like a group of 13 senior residents at a bus stop. Equipped with machine guns, grenades, and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), Hamas also attacked the local police station. Nobody inside that police station survived.
Not far, near Tekumah (Tkuma), lies the “car graveyard” or “car cemetery”, where 1650 cars have been gathered. Most of the cars are from the Nova festival. Many of the cars are burnt out as Hamas used RPGs and grenades to kill the people within the vehicles and to destroy the cars. Other cars are bullet-riddled. People driving on the road ran into ambushes of the Palestinian Hamas terrorists and were shot by the gunmen. Many of these incidents can be found in video recordings by Hamas body cams, or footage from surveillance cameras.
The Hamas terrorists didn’t spare ambulances, nor did they hesitate to kill their Palestinian-Israeli-Muslim brethren like the Arab ambulance driver, who happened to be a relative of my car mechanic. They killed dozens of Muslim Bedouins, without any hesitation.
During the tour I will be happy to explain more about the geopolitical conflict between the Palestinians and Israel. It is worth digging into the history of Hamas, and the underlying Muslim Brotherhood, to better understand what happened on 10/7. Interestingly, much of the Palestinian and Arab antisemitism goes back to Nazi Germany which promoted and funded antisemitic indoctrination (see Matthias Kuentzel “Hitler’s Legacy: Islamic Antisemitism in the Middle East” or his book “Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11”).
In addition to visiting the Gaza envelope settlements and sites, I suggest to pay a visit at the Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.
I will be able to guide you at these places, but please no photos with smileys at the killing fields.
Private Tour to Gaza Perimeter, Nova Festival, Sderot, and Car Cemetery
Price: $490*
Additional quotes – for different locations, group or VIP tours – upon request!
* All prices are daily fees that cover planning and guiding.
Not included are transportation, entry fees (where required), meals, and any other personal expenses. I will be happy to organize a car or minibus with driver at extra charge.