The desert night was peaceful and still until the sound of rockets echoed around the festival, startling the revelers and sending them scurrying for shelter. Panic filled the air as they realized the sound wasn’t just fireworks, but a warning of impending danger. As they tried to make sense of what was happening, a group of militants burst onto the scene, heavily armed and demanding hostages.
The group of militants hailing from nearby Gaza had come to the festival to use the gathered crowd as leverage in their fight for independence. In the chaos, some of the festival-goers managed to escape, but many were taken hostage, forced into the militants’ trucks and driven away into the night.
In the days that followed, the terror the tourists and festivalgoers had experienced in the desert was etched into their memories. They had come to the festival to relax and escape reality, but instead were plunged into a horrifying experience that none of them had ever expected.
