An Australian says he and his friends “heard the whispers of the bullets flying over our heads” while fleeing an attack on a music festival in Israel, where authorities have since reported finding at least 260 bodies.
Daniel Moritz, who was at the Supernova music festival, described the attack by Hamas as a complete surprise and said those in attendance were “totally unaware and unprotected”.
He told ABC Radio Melbourne that he and his five friends escaped in their car.
“We found actually a hole in the fence [so] we managed to get out faster, then we started to head north, we thought we were protected, and suddenly a machine gun started going off, just like shooting us full force,” Moritz said.
“We heard the whispers of the bullets flying over our heads.
“We were ducking down in the car and our driver, one of our good friends of ours, like he is post-traumatic already. He was totally in stress. Everyone was in stress.
Moritz added: “What’s going on right now in the country is chaos.”
Moritz said it was “not a casual thing that civilians see terrorists before the army does”.
The attack on the music festival was part of a co-ordinated action across Israel by Hamas militants on Saturday. Hundreds of civilians were killed and dozens taken hostages in the largest incursion since the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
On Monday the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, condemned the “indiscriminate” targeting of civilians by Hamas, saying its “unprovoked” attack was aimed at “creating terror”. Despite also describing the “hundreds of people killed in Gaza” as a “real concern”, Albanese laid blame for this on Hamas.
Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, said on Monday that the “unprecedented atrocity is something that will be met with an unprecedented Israeli response”.
Asked whether the IDF had failed to protect citizens to some extent, he told ABC Radio National: “I think that is abundantly clear and there will be very difficult questions that the IDF will need to answer and report back to Israeli society.”
Conricus said the IDF had been directed by the Israeli government to dismantle the military wing of Hamas and ensure that Hamas “will not have the ability to govern the Gaza Strip”.
Conricus suggested the world should brace for “pictures of suffering in Gaza” but urged people to “please remember how this started”.
“It started with an unprovoked attack against our civilians - we had civilians executed in their homes by Hamas terrorists. That is why it started and that is what we are going to respond against.”
Mustafa Barghouti, a leader of the Palestinian National Initiative and not affiliated with Hamas, expressed concern about those comments.
“He said you should not care now about the scenes you will see in Gaza, which means he is preparing a ground operation against the civilian population of Gaza,” Barghouti told Radio National.
“We have been under Israeli military occupation for the last 56 years; Gaza is under occupation too because it is besieged by Israel.”
Barghouti added: “If Israelis have the right to defend themselves, do Palestinians also have the right to defend themselves or not? Are we equal human beings or not? The world is not treating us as such.”
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said she had expressed Australia’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself and “solidarity” with Israel in a call with its foreign minister, Eli Cohen.
“Australia’s thoughts are with those lost, those injured, those taken hostage and all their loved ones,” she told reporters.
“It is always the right thing for Australia to urge exercising of restraint when it comes to protection of civilian lives.”
Asked about Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza, Wong replied that Israel “has to make its decisions about how it’s best to defend itself in a circumstance in which it has been attacked … its citizens targeted, taken … but we will always urge all parties to protect civilian lives”.
Wong said she did not have “any information at this stage about Australians hospitalised, or injured, or any fatalities” but was working to confirm the welfare of Australians in the affected areas.
Albanese later told ABC Sydney it was “likely” that it was not just Israeli citizens who had been kidnapped, given citizens of other nations regularly visit Israel.
Australia has changed its travel advice to “do not travel” to Gaza and near its border, Wong said.
Asked about apparent celebrations in some suburbs of Sydney, Wong said “the targeting of civilians and the taking of hostages is never a cause for celebrations” and Australia would “never condone” such tactics “whatever people’s views of the history of this conflict”.
Albanese told Channel Nine’s Today program there was “nothing to celebrate by the murder of innocent civilians going about their day”.
“Some of those who’ve been captured were young people who were attending a rave, enjoying life, enjoying each other’s company.”
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said that if Israel requests further assistance Australia should “be one of the ally nations” to provide it, likening it to Australia’s support for Ukraine “where we stand up for peace … [and] democracy”.
Israel has cut off electricity and fuel supplies to Gaza, which may soon affect the strip’s medical facilities that are already under extreme pressure from people injured in the bombardment.
Albanese told ABC News Breakfast said there was also a “real concern, of course, in [the] Israeli response”.
“Israel has a right to defend itself but … you’ve already seen horrific numbers, more than 600 Israelis killed in the initial action by Hamas and hundreds of people killed in Gaza as well.
“This is of real concern, but Hamas bear the responsibility for this.”
