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They Ran Into a Bomb Shelter for Safety. Instead, They Were Slaughtered.

(New York Times) Isabel Kershner - Nearly 30 young people took refuge inside a grimy bunker on Oct. 7, hoping the reinforced-concrete shelter near the border with Gaza would protect them. Then a group of Hamas assailants, armed with assault rifles and grenades, attacked the shelter near Kibbutz Re'im. The very characteristics that made the tiny fortress a refuge from incoming rockets turned it into a deathtrap for those inside. After a desperate defense that included throwing live grenades back at their attackers, more than a dozen of the shelter's occupants had been killed. Others, dazed and injured, were taken to Gaza as hostages. Hamas assailants, using identical methods, attacked multiple shelters that dot the roads near Gaza in which their victims had sought safety. The shelters have no doors to allow for fast entry because in these parts, incoming-rocket alerts typically give only a few seconds' warning. Yossi Landau, the southern region commander for ZAKA, a search-and-rescue organization, entered one bomb shelter on Route 232. Inside he found about 20 burned bodies fused together, adding, "It was difficult to separate them."
2023-11-12 00:00:00
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