Israeli Indian woman reveals terror of music festival attack

AT LEAST two Israeli women security officers of Indian origin were killed in the unprecedented attack carried out by the Palestinian militant group Hamas earlier this month, official sources and people from the community confirmed last Sunday (15).

Lieutenant Or Moses, 22, a commander in the Home Front Command, from Ashdod and Inspector Kim Dokraker, a Border Police officer in the police’s Central District, were killed in the attack on October 7, officials confirmed.

Both of them are said to have died on duty in combat.

According to officials, so far 286 army soldiers and 51 police officers have been killed in the conflict.

There could be more victims as Israel continues to confirm the identity of the dead and search for those missing or possibly kidnapped, several community members said.

Shahaf Talker, a young woman from the community who managed to survive the attack with her friend, described what she experienced. Still in shock and unable to speak because of the trauma, the 24-year-old woman thought that writing down her recollections would ease some of her stress, said her grandfather Yaacov Talker, who migrated from Mumbai at the age of 11 in 1963.

“Early today, Shahaf went to the funeral of some of her friends who were killed in the massacre that happened at the rave music party. About 270 youngsters were killed in mass killings carried out by Hamas after infiltrating Israeli territory,” said Yaacov, who lives in Petah Tikva, a town in northern Israel.

According to Shahaf’s account of events, on October 7, she and her friend Yanir, who was at the party, saw the rockets flying over their heads.

“What is that?” I asked him.

“Missiles,” he answered.

“We started running to the car, and I fell on the floor crying. Yanir picked me up, grabbed my hand and told me, ‘Everything is fine, let’s fly away, we have to get home’,” she wrote. “We got into the car and started driving, we drove fast. The police said to turn right, but this was not the road to Tel Aviv. So we turned back and turned to the other side, the mistake of our lives or we were saved, only God knows, in the direction of Tel Aviv. They were waiting for us, blocking the road, three vans, about eight terrorists.

“Yanir quickly realised that they were aiming guns at us and turned the car around as fast as he could. One bullet hit the front windshield, passed right between me and Yanir… the whole car was sprayed with bullets, and all the windows were broken,” Shahaf recounted.

She said the militants were firing at them without hesitation.

“We drove to the other side. They were waiting for us there as well. We met a couple of friends who told us there were terrorists on the other side as well, we all got out of the car and ran. We tried to hide ourselves in the bush until it was quiet, not exactly quiet, just fewer bullets flying overhead. We checked what was happening and decided to return to the vehicles.”

Shahaf wrote that they drove until they saw a gas station. “Yanir decided to head there and he found 18 people from the same party inside the gas station.

“I can’t believe we survived this... we were left with one security guard with a gun. For three hours, we were dying of fear, calling everyone possible to save us,” she recalled.

“The army arrived, (they said) ‘run to the vehicles, as many people as possible in each vehicle, save yourselves, just drive.’ We succeeded, Moshav Teluma’s security personnel waved at us from the fence and led us to the most perfect family in the world, who took care of us.”

She expressed her sorrow for the victims of the attack by Hamas militants.

“This story is sad. I was saved but piles of my friends are lying in piles of corpses, may your memory be blessed.

“They abandoned us in the field. I’m sorry. Sharing it so that everyone knows the horrors!!!” she added.

Her grandfather, Yaacov, said it has been very difficult the past week to deal with the trauma she went through.

“She is still in shock. It will take her a lot of time to come out of it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sheeja Anand, a caregiver from Kerala who was injured in the attack, is now stable, sources said.

Anand suffered injuries in her hands and leg in the rocket attack on October 7 in the northern Israeli city of Ashkelon. She was immediately provided treatment at a nearby hospital.