On the morning of October 7, hundreds of Israelis gathered in the settlement of Reim to celebrate the Torah, a major Jewish holiday, without knowing that tragedy was awaiting them.

`Suddenly, gunshots and rockets rang out from nowhere. The music stopped, replaced by air raid sirens,` Ortal, a guest at the party, told Israel’s N12 News station.

That was the moment the armed group Hamas simultaneously fired thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip at targets inside Israeli territory, including the Reim settlement, not far from the border.

Israeli people after a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, October 7.

Gibly, a party attendee, said the event was held in an open space, so people `had nowhere to hide`.

Esther Borochov, a guest at the party, quickly got into a car to leave with her friends and was hit by another car in a panic.

A young man approached and asked Borochov’s group to get into his car, but was hit by bullets immediately afterwards.

This is an unprecedented incursion by Hamas into Israeli territory, and is also one of the most serious escalations of tension in the region in many years.

Videos posted on social networks by Palestinian militant groups showed scores of Israeli soldiers and civilians with their hands tied behind their backs, being put in vehicles returning to the Gaza Strip, apparently as hostages.

In some settlements, Hamas gunmen fired indiscriminately at vehicles on the streets, searched door-to-door to arrest people and confronted Israeli security forces.

`I walked out of my house and saw countless bodies, from civilians to attackers. They were lying along the road, everywhere. Vehicles were abandoned, riddled with bullet holes,` Shlomi, who lives in

This city was a hot spot for clashes between the Israeli army and Hamas armed forces for the next 12 hours.

At least 300 Israelis were killed and more than 1,500 injured.

Hamas soldiers escort an Israeli woman.

Many Israelis in other areas are shocked and surprised by what is happening around the Gaza Strip.

In fighting hot spots, people barricaded themselves in their homes all day, calling on security forces for help, as Hamas gunmen searched residential areas.

`We heard a lot of gunshots, when the attackers broke into the house,` Ella said, recounting the breathless moment inside the shelter in the Be’eri settlement.

Israeli fighter jets then continuously attacked Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

During the early hours of the conflict, Israeli medical teams were unable to reach the wounded in the towns where the fighting took place.

`If you ask any Palestinian how to end the conflict, they will never describe things like this,` said Khaled al-Taweel, 49, of central Gaza.

Overview of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.