Israel-Palestine

Former Israeli pro soccer player Lior Asulin was killed during the brutal Hamas attack over the weekend while celebrating his 43rd birthday.

Auslin, a striker, was partying at a "nature party" music festival at a resort near Kibbutz Re’im when gunmen opened fire, killing the footballer and many others, according to reports.

One survivor told Israel's Channel 12 she saw about 50 terrorists in military gear arrive in vans and started shooting at anyone in sight.

"They fired bursts, and we reached a point where everyone stopped their vehicles and started running," the survivor said.

"I went into a tree, a bush like this, and they just started spraying people. I saw masses of wounded people thrown around and I'm in a tree and trying to understand what's going on."

The Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer team -- who signed Auslin to a four-year contract in 2007 -- released a statement on X that they're deeply saddened by his death.

His former Bnei Sakhnin coach Eyal Lachman also released a statement, saying Asulin was "a guy with a heart of gold, that was his most outstanding characteristic."

"They always said that his most outstanding characteristic was to give back, I saw that the most outstanding characteristic was to give his friends his soul."

Auslin played for several teams during his pro soccer career ... and was even one of the top strikers in the Israeli domestic league in 2004.

He scored 88 goals and won the 2004 Israeli Cup with Bnei Sakhnin.

Asulin's 43rd birthday was Saturday.

Horrified concertgoers dove into an underbrush to try and save their lives at the Israeli festival where Hamas terrorists slaughtered 260 innocent people.

Two attendees -- a man and a woman -- recorded the harrowing images with their cell phones and posted the footage on social media.

The clips show the two hiding in bushes and whispering messages to family and friends in case they don't make it out alive.

In the background, you hear artillery fire and bombs exploding during Saturday's bloodbath at the Supernova Festival.

Survivors stayed hunkered down for up to 5 hours until Israeli soldiers came in to bring them to safety.

The Palestinian militant group crashed through barriers separating Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to carry out the sneak attack around dawn.

Gunmen rolled up in trucks to the venue where fans were listening to music all night and opened fire into the crowd, killing hundreds of people.

At the same time, Hamas launched surprise assaults in other parts of Israel, leaving more than 700 dead. Videos posted online show kidnappings and rockets blowing up buildings.

President Biden's administration may or may not be shocked to hear Iran was supposedly instrumental in the lead-up to the attack on Israel ... the implications of which are dire.

The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report Sunday, citing multiple sources from within Hamas, Hezbollah and even a European official with knowledge ... all of whom say Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps worked with Hamas in planning the ambush.

This alleged coordination dates back several weeks, apparently ... with talks going as far back as August and several reported meetings taking place in Beirut between all the parties. In addition to Iran being involved, WSJ reports that Lebanon's Hezbollah was in the mix.

The intention in all this, per WSJ, was two-pronged ... Iran apparently wanted to manufacture a "multi-front threat" against Israel -- this as the country grappled with its own internal politics, while disrupting U.S.-brokered peace talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

When asked directly about whether the U.S. had any knowledge of Iran's alleged involvement in directing the Hamas-led attack ... Sec. of State Anthony Blinken denied knowing anything about it, saying there was no evidence on their end that was, in fact, the case.

A separate U.S. official said the same thing to the WSJ ... but the outlet is insisting people overseas are saying differently. If what they're saying is true -- it's troubling on many fronts.

For one, it would be an indictment on U.S intelligence ... but it would also indicate that a broader conflict in the Middle East is looming -- with Israel having already gone on the record to say they would retaliate if it was found that Tehran sanctioned this Hamas move.

Kylie Jenner apparently can't take the heat for supporting Israel, because she posted her support for the country that just endured a 9/11-type terrorist attack, but after some people criticized her she 86'd the post.

Jenner shared a post, "Now and always we stand with the people of Israel SHARE if you stand with the people of Israel as they face one of the most frightening situations in many years. Thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israelis, hundreds of civilians have been injured and more than 300 murdered, terrorists have infiltrated Israel from Gaza, and there are unconfirmed reports that IDF soldiers have been kidnapped and taken into Gaza."

Some of Jenner's followers started populating her Instagram with photos of Palestinian flags and urged others to unfollow her. Apparently, that was enough for Kylie, because the post was nowhere to be seen on her account an hour later.

Other celebs are standing strong in their support for Israel, including Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Amy Schumer and Jamie Lee Curtis.

There is a full-blown war now, with Hezbollah firing missiles at Israel from Lebanon.

Israel has reacted swiftly to the biggest attack on the country in 50 years, bombing areas of Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attack that now reportedly killed more than 500 Israelis.

You see people running for cover as buildings collapse after the bombings.

Israel has declared a state of war and is swiftly retaliating for the attack that completely escaped military intel -- both in Israel and the U.S.

This dramatic video shows a reporter doing a live shot in Gaza when a bomb hit ... the sounds from the explosion unnerve her but she toughs it out and continues her reporting.

At the time of the attack, there was a crowded music festival near the Gaza Strip and you see the terror and panic as terrorists launched rockets and opened fire into the crowd

Some of the people at the festival were taken hostage by gunmen. One woman is taken away on a motorcycle as she screams, "Don't kill me! No, no no!"

Dozens, and many more, have reportedly been taken hostage and are now somewhere in the Gaza Strip, making retaliation by the Israeli military problematic. It's likely some of the hostages are in tunnels which house some of the terrorists as well as military and other artillery.

At least 1,500 people were injured in Saturday's attack and both the death toll and toll of those injured is expected to climb.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said, "We are at war," vowed that Hamas "would pay a price it has never known."

The Middle East is a powder keg of violence ... it's unknown if other countries surrounding Israel will join the conflict.

Terrorists unleashed a surprise attack in Israel this weekend that has left scores of people dead -- marking what's sure to be the start of a prolonged bloodbath in the Middle East.

The radical group known as Hamas swarmed Israeli territory along the Gaza Strip and surrounding areas early Saturday morning -- this after launching countless rockets at civilian buildings and going around to wreak havoc on the streets thereafter in armed convoys.

There are several videos surfacing from Israel that capture the sheer brutality and horror of what's happening on the ground ... and most of them are far too graphic for publication.

What we can show, however, are key clips of Israelis being taken hostage in this hellish ordeal -- including lots of women and children who are being wrangled by Hamas members and thrown into the backs of their trucks ... getting tossed and thrashed and mistreated.

As of this writing, the official body count on Israel's side is upwards of 150 ... and it continues to soar as the government scours through the wreckage and aftermath. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is "at war" following the Hamas incursion -- and promised to retaliate with everything in his power to send a message of deterrence.

Israel has already begun to do that ... firing its own rockets and destroying buildings that are believed to be affiliated with Hamas militants -- and there are aerial strikes happening as well.

The fighting has only escalated since the initial onslaught ... the latest reports say a new wave of rockets have been fired from the Gaza region and are headed toward central Israel, including Tel Aviv. The U.S. is already on its toes in the wake of all this ugly news.