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Lee Sasi: US woman at Israeli rave survived by 'hiding under bodies' for 7 hours during Hamas attack

Lee Sasi and about 35 others had taken cover in a bomb shelter when they were discovered by Hamas militants

TEL AVIV ISRAEL: Lee Sasi, an American woman, faced a harrowing ordeal at the Supernova festival in Israel, located just three miles from the Israel-Gaza border.

The unexpected intrusion of Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, disrupted the peaceful desert rave as their fighters descended via paragliders. This tragic incident resulted in the loss of over 260 lives and compelled Lee to seek refuge under bodies of dead festivalgoers for seven hours.

Lee Sasi harrowing ordeal at Israeli rave

"It was a nightmare. I can't even describe to you what I saw and what we've been through," Lee recounted, her voice filled with the weight of her experiences.

"We ran. When we were at the party, it was so much fun; it was the best first six hours of our lives and the worst last six hours of our lives."

"We arrived to the party and we were dancing and we were taking pictures and then we just saw, up in the sky it looked like fireworks, and we realised it wasn't fireworks. And we ran to the car and as we ran we were running with our cousin who came in a separate car and we went separate ways, and I went with my uncle and my other cousin."

Guided by a memory of a nearby bomb shelter, Lee and her family sought refuge from the unfolding catastrophe. The location of the festival, situated on the Israel-Gaza border, left them with limited escape routes. Turning away from the path taken by most festivalgoers, they encountered a barricade of militants blocking their way.

"That's where all the terrorists were, blocking the roads." With no option but to seek refuge in a bomb shelter, Lee, her uncle, and her cousin joined around 35 other terrified individuals. Their anxiety heightened when they heard reports of an impending attack within 20 minutes.

Lee Sasi's brutal onslaught and lingering fear

The group's nerves were already on edge when, to their horror, three armed individuals entered the shelter, opening fire and throwing grenades. The sudden violence claimed multiple lives, and Lee witnessed her uncle's tragic death as he protected her.

"There was three people, our friend Alex who came with us, he stood up front, he guarded the entryway of the bomb shelter and they immediately just started shooting at everyone who was in front. Maybe 10 people fell down instantly in front of my eyes. Then the second thing you know after that, they were throwing grenades. And when the grenade fell it blew up my uncle right in front of my face while he was protecting me," she said. 

The horror didn't end there. Lee and the survivors spent seven agonizing hours in the shelter, surrounded by the sounds of rockets, gunfire, and the gleeful voices of the attackers. Lee's pregnant cousin sought refuge in a separate shelter, and her whereabouts remain unknown. Lee recounted a disturbing video showing her cousin's husband being shot to death as he fled a shelter.

Lee Sasi hides underneath bodies

In a bid for survival, Lee made a harrowing decision, she concealed herself beneath a pile of bodies, victims of the attackers. The individuals inside the shelter endured an interminable seven-hour wait for help, a period that Lee described as feeling "like an eternity."

She went on to recount, "Every time they were throwing rockets and they were shooting, they were laughing. They were excited. They were so excited in their voice and it was like joy to them. Like they were waiting to kill us."

The attackers killed a significant portion of those within the shelter, and Lee's choice to hide under the deceased was her only hope of survival.

"Everybody was dying in front of me, there was 30 to 35 people entering. It took about 10 minutes to kill 80 per cent of them. I had dead people, I was sitting on them at a point, I was sitting them and then they started throwing grenades. I had to bury myself under the bodies to protect myself from the wounds," said Lee.

Lee's pregnant cousin sought refuge in a separate bomb shelter, and as of now, she remains unaccounted for. The family is gripped by fear, suspecting that she might have been abducted. Their concern heightened as they viewed a distressing video showing her husband being fatally shot as he attempted to flee from a different bomb shelter.