YEAR FROM HELL
Israel foiled Hamas plot to launch October 7 anniversary attack as heartbroken families paid tribute to massacre victims
More than 360 revellers were cut down as they desperately attempted to flee the site
ISRAEL Defence Forces said they had foiled a Hamas terrorist bid to unleash mayhem among mourners at today’s October 7 anniversary vigils.
Israeli spotters were said to have detected threats from Gaza close to events where a thousand relatives of Nova Festival victims had gathered at dawn.
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Commanders feared rockets were being prepared to explode among those gathered to grieve in southern Israel’s Negev Desert.
But the terror attack was suppressed by withering artillery plus drone and air strikes directed at rocket launch sites in the terrorist enclave.
Constant outgoing artillery rounds closeby and occasional bursts of heavy machine gun fire were heard as the vigil got underway.
The huge operation - carried out as Israeli president Isaac Herzog consoled relatives - succeeded in protecting the event.
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Grieving families paid moving tribute to terror victims as they paused for a chillingly poignant vigil at exactly 6.29am - the moment the massacres of 1,200 and kidnapping of 251 began exactly a year earlier.
The biggest pageant began before dawn at the Nova Music Festival site at Re’im just three miles from Gaza.
Exactly a year earlier, ravers were raving to a high energy dance track called Pixel by Space Cat when rockets and terrorists aboard paragliders filled the sky.
And today the same track was played on a sound stage then cut short at exactly 6.29am - before a lone woman’s screams pierced the eerie silence.
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Watch terrifying moment IDF soldiers locked in close-range fight with Hamas during Oct 7 attack
The harrowing scene symbolised a fraction of the hell which erupted at the site as hundreds of armed Hamas savages stormed the site in an orgy or murder, rape and mutilation.
Each of the festival victims was commemorated by a photograph above small memorials flickering flames and in the sands of the Negev Desert.
Families - many wearing t-shirts emblazoned with pictures of their lost loved ones - wept and hugged each other tightly in the pre-dawn glow.
The sad commemoration was punctuated by the deafening boom of outgoing Israeli artillery fire into Gaza and the occasion rattle of heavy machine gun fire in the distance.
A massive security operation was launched to protect the site and big guns opened fire to stop Hamas rocketeers triggering mayhem among mourners.
An Apache helicopter gunship hovered overhead backed by drones scouring potential threats and troops and police manned checkpoints leading to the venue.
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But Hamas did manage to unleash salvoes of rockets later in the day towards Tel Aviv.
An IDF spokesman said: “Following the identification of Hamas' intentions to fire projectiles toward Israeli territory, the IDF thwarted an immediate threat.
“A short while ago, the IAF struck Hamas launch posts and underground terrorist infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip.
“Furthermore, overnight, the IAF and IDF artillery struck targets in the central Gaza Strip that posed a threat to IDF troops operating in the area.”
Hamas fired 4,000 rockets on October 7 last year - but managed to launch little more than a handful yesterday.
Under-fire terror troops targeted Tel Aviv in five-rocket salvo yesterday morning and also hit Sderot close to the Gaza frontier.
Most were intercepted but one of the Tel Aviv projectiles smashed a factory yards from a school in the east of the Israeli coastal city, injuring two women and leaving others in shock.
A spokeswoman for the Beit Rivka Elementary School told The Sun: “We managed to get the children into shelters and they prayed together before we heard the big bang nearby.
“There was no panic and none of the children were hurt - sadly It’s something we have got used to.”
A drone alert had earlier sounded in Tel Aviv and the nation remained on maximum alert while its forces battled Hamas Islamist allies Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.
Emily Hand is 'smiling again'
WHEN she ran into her dad’s open arms after 50 days of hostage hell in Gaza, nine-year-old Emily Hand was traumatised and broken.
The wide-eyed waif’s weight had crashed, her clothes and hair were matted and filthy and she was unable to speak in more than a whisper.
Her father Tom - who earlier had told the world his little girl was better off dead than in the clutches of Hamas savages - fought back his tears knowing he had to stay strong.
But today - on the first anniversary of the Hamas horror which rocked the world - the brave little girl who came back from the dead is busy rebuilding her life.
And her family’s story shines a rare ray of hope as war-torn Israel struggles to emerge from a year of darkness and despair.
Tom, 64, told the Sun: “Emily went through absolute hell but she’s a fighter - and she is smiling again.
“When she was released she was afraid to speak in more than a whisper because the terrorists had threatened to shoot or stab her if she made too much noise.
“But a year later she’s getting back to her old self and is as noisy and boisterous as ever - I never complain now no matter how noisy she gets!
“We have a new home in a new, safe, kibbutz further from Gaza and she’s back at school with some of her old friends and starting to enjoy life again.
“It’s awful remembering the dark times but I have to be thankful that I got her back and give her every chance to be happy and enjoy every day.
“Her recovery shows the terrorists that they will never beat her, they will never beat me, they will never beat the people of my kibbutz and they will never beat Israel.
“Hamas attacked us but they have succeeded only in making us stronger, more united and more determined.”
Dublin-born Tom - who grew up in London - travelled to Israel three decades ago to volunteer on a kibbutz near Gaza.
He had two children Aiden, 30, and Natali, 27, with wife Narkis before they split then had Emily with new partner Liat, who died of breast cancer when Emily was two.
Narkis, 52, was killed on October 7 when 400 Hamas thugs rampaged through the Be’eri kibbutz.
Emily was on a sleepover at a pal’s home when she was snatched and Tom survived by barricading himself inside a safe room for 19 hours.
Emily - who was rushed from house-to-house by Hamas fighters during gun battles with Israeli troops - turned nine while in Gaza before her release in November last year.
Tom - who has moved to a new home in the kibbutz of Hatzerim, 20 miles from Gaza - said: “Emily still gets scared of loud noises and wasn’t able to sleep alone for a long time after she came back.
“She still has nightmares but counselling has helped and things are much better now.
“She spent her last birthday in hell so I’ll be making sure she has a party to remember this year when she turns 10 on October 17.
“We’re happy now but things will never truly be the same and no one feels able to properly resume their lives until the remaining hostages in Gaza are free.
“This October 7 we’ll be remembering those who died but also those still being held.
“I feel incredibly lucky to have Emily back but our thoughts are always with the hostages.”
Israeli warplanes continued to blast Hezbollah targets in the group’s stronghold’s in southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut as ground troops battled terrorist militia further south.
IDF chiefs said they had ordered the evacuation of 25 southern Lebanese towns and villages to expand ground operations and smash terror tunnels.
Troops numbers in Lebanon top 25,000 but will be further boosted within days by the deployment of a third combat group, the 91st Galilee Regional Division.
But Hezbollah has also continued to fire rockets at its hated enemy, causing injuries in Haifa and Tiberias in the north overnight.
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Tensions had spiralled across the south of the embattled nation as a terrorist gunman killed a woman cop and wounded 11 other commuters at a rail hub on Sunday.
Hero cop Sgt Shira Suslik died in hospital after attempting to tackle a gun maniac who went on the rampage outside a train station’s McDonalds in Beersheba, 25 miles from the festival site.
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