is an ininvasion whihich may ma hamas s more populular. >> nothihing would b be a greae setback toto hamas thahan after this an israeli-saudi normalization. that is the strategic prize for israel. >> diplomatic and political progress in the middle east hahe often comeme in the afaftermath wars. >> when i was a young reporter it would have been very difficult to imagine that the spanish government and bask extremists could sit down together and work things out. that happened. it would have been very difficult to imagine n northern irelanand beining at peacece. and that h happened. i have thihis little rayay of h that it has happened elsewhere in the world. maybe somehow that can happen in gaza as well. >> in the days and weeks ahead there is so much at stake here and cnn will be here to cover it all. thanks for watching "the whole story." i'll see you next sunday. [music playing] anderson cooper: welcome to the whole story. i'm anderson cooper in tel aviv. one of the worst scenes of slaughter during the hamas terror attack on israel was at the supernova festival, a dance party just 3.3 miles away from the border with gaza. more than 3,000 mostly young people had gathered in an open field. it became a killing field, the site of the single biggest loss of civilian life in israel's history. over the course of about six hours, terrorists killed more than 260 people there. many were slaughtered at the site. others were ambushed or hunted down as they tried to flee. we still don't know how many partygoers were kidnapped, and how many of those people may still be alive, being held somewhere in gaza. hamas has posted hostage videos online, and desperate family members in israel have resorted to scrolling through jihadist videos, searching for any images of their loved ones. only now is the whole story of what happened at the supernova music festival coming into focus. using videos from multiple sources and eyewitness accounts from survivors, we've been able to document how coordinated this attack was, and just how brutal. some of what you'll see tonight is tough to watch. but it is, for now, the most complete look at what took place that we've reported so far. [music playing] it was 6:00 am on saturday morning, october 7th. the sun was rising over southern israel. maya alper: i was standing with a friend. and we looked together at the sunrise. and i told her, look how beautiful she is. what a magical sunrise. what a magical day. [music playing] anderson cooper: thousands of young people had been partying through the night at the supernova festival, a trance music rave. [music playing] subject 1: i made a video on my social of minutes before the attack. and the crowd goes crazy raving. [music playing] i've been in a lot of festivals. one of the best one. so, before the attack. anderson cooper: after analyzing dozens of videos-- [screaming] [shouting indistinctly] subject 2: they start to shoot at us. anderson cooper: --and interviewing survivors, cnn has been able to piece together how the hamas terror attack unfolded 70 miles south of tel aviv, near re'im, about 3.3 miles from israel's border with gaza. festival organizers had been setting it up for days, but some partygoers didn't learn the location until shortly before the rave began. subject 1: usually, trance festivals, you don't give the location until the last day, because trance festival originally were illegal in most of the countries. so we never give the location till couple of hours before. this is a tradition in this trance culture. anderson cooper: there were police and event security on site, but partygoers had been asked to leave any guns at home. yuval tapuhi: they asked all of the people that attended during the event to be calm and peaceful. don't bring any weapon. usually, you really don't think that you need to bring weapon to a party. it's a nature party. it's supposed to be the most safe place that we all know. anderson cooper: 31-year-old hai cohen was going to skip the party, but changed his mind after a friend convinced him not to. hai cohen: i told her, listen, i'm really, really tired. try to maybe sell the tickets or take other friends with you. she sent the message to the organization, and the organization told her it's too close to the event and it's not possible to change the ticket anymore. and then she wrote to me, it's a destiny. you don't have a reason to afraid. i would like you to come with me. and then i wrote to her, ok, i'm in. anderson cooper: 31-year-old gal raz traveled to the party with two friends and met up with his other friends, avinatan or and his girlfriend, noa argamani. gal raz: i told avinatan about this party. i pushed him a bit to come with me, because we enjoyed some festivals like this before. anderson cooper: also enjoying the festival-- a 22-year-old restaurant manager, named omer wenkert. subject: his vision is, of course, to be professional, to be the owner of a restaurant, eventually, and to have family. anderson cooper: shani louk, a 22-year-old german-israeli citizen, had come as well. ricarda louk: my daughter is very artistic. she likes drawing. she's a tattoo artist, and she likes music festivals, and she likes to dance. anderson cooper: another partygoer was elkana bohbot, a husband and father of a three-year-old boy. subject: elkana, he has a huge heart. he has a big laugh. he has an ice cream shop. he's a very smart guy. subject: he loved life. he went to celebrate life. anderson cooper: the celebration was supposed to go on all day, but at 6:30 am, the music stopped. [music stops] [partygoers yelling] subject: the music shut down. it sometimes happens. in the first seconds, i was like, yeah, sure, electricity shut down. yuval tapuhi: and you can see these little blobs of light in the distance, and you think, like, ok, this is maybe fireworks? anderson cooper: this video was taken at exactly 6:30. yuval tapuhi: like, 20 seconds after that, we realized that those lights are not fireworks. this is missiles. this is rockets. [yelling] hai cohen: i remember police guy take the microphone and say, in hebrew, [speaking hebrew].. police: [speaking hebrew] [yelling] hai cohen: it means a red siren, a red siren. please go to the shelter. what? you know, like, we are in an open field. what shelter? police: [speaking hebrew] hai cohen: when you are in open area like that, the best thing is that you can do is to lie on the ground and put your hand on your head. anderson cooper: partygoers could hear the rocket warnings. man: everything ok! anderson cooper: but many were not concerned. - hi! [yelling in hebrew] anderson cooper: it's far away, it's far away, a man in the parking area says. don't worry. maya alper: for a lot of israelis, alarm is not something that you get so excited and scared about. noam cohen: i didn't got nervous, because i'm used to it. because in israel, every few months, from gaza, from-- we're surrounded by enemies. so i used to see so many rockets over my head. so i was chill. anderson cooper: rockets aren't unusual in southern israel, but armed paragliders are. yuval tapuhi: between the rockets, you can see them coming from above. but i didn't think it was any kind of danger. we saw the paragliding from afar, but we didn't think-- it never occurred that they carried terrorists inside of them. anderson cooper: you can hear a woman asking, what's happening? woman: [speaking hebrew] anderson cooper: it was around 7 am, and some partygoers were already trying to get out. [yelling in hebrew] subject: i understand something's really getting wrong when i start hearing the live shooting. the live shooting, i could recognize by the type of the shooting that this was terrorists and not idf power. there are three types of shooting. one is like single-- pow, pow, pow. one is going like a line-- pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, in a rhythm. and there is, like, open fire-- tatatatata. [gun shots] there is rules in idf how you shoot, and very carefully. so i could understand this is not idf. this is terrorists, attacking us and shooting us. it was far away, but you could hear that, and then understand, yeah, we need to get the [bleep] away from here. anderson cooper: [? ? einor ?] [? cogno, ?] a 25-5-year-old photogographer, gogot to his r and d out of thehe parking a . [honking] subject: there was, like, small jam of cars, but the policeman between the field and the main road stopped us. anderson cooper: he says they told him there was shooting on the road north and he should head south. subject: i was probably one of the last ones who escaped that without getting the live shooting on me. maya alper: i just decided that i want to drive away from here. anderson cooper: maya alper was working the festival and got to the parking lot around the same time as [? einor. ?] maya alper: i got into my car, which-- because i was really close to the exit, so i didn't get stuck that much in the traffic of people going out. so i was able to get out of the party space and into the road. and i thought-- i thought i was safe. anderson cooper: unlike [? einor, ?] maya drove north toward tel aviv. but hamas gunmen were already on that road ahead of her. they'd arrived on motorcycles and in trucks, armed with automatic weapons and grenade launchers, and quickly closed in from three directions. as this drone video shows, the traffic jam of cars trying to leave would prove deadly. maya alper: the cars were stuck. and then, a few moments later, an officer coming towards our way-- terrified, terrified for his life. and he's screaming, like, there is terrorists. they're shooting people. [gunshots, screaming] you need to leave your cars, leave everything here, and run. run, run for your life. [yelling] anderson cooper: hamas came from the west. they also were coming from the north and from the south, so heading east through this open field was the only way for many people to try to get out. problem was, it's an open field, and they were easy targets. [gunshots, yelling] it's not yet known how many people were shot running away or in hiding places nearby. but it was early, and the slaughter had just begun. [gunshots] anderson cooper: hamas gunmen had breached the fence separating israel and gaza in multiple locations, according to the idf. by 7 am, they were along this entire stretch of highway. police and festival security exchanged fire with the heavily armed attackers, but they were outgunned and outmanned. [shouting] as chaos spread, a traffic jam in the parking area made it difficult for anyone to drive onto the main road and get out. [honking] [shouting] hai cohen: you cannot go from everywhere. only one line to the roads. anderson cooper: you really get a sense of just the chaos that took place here as partygoers started to realize what was happening. many rushed to the parking lot, trying to get into their vehicles, but they never made it out. those who were able to drive north or south quickly realized hamas gunmen were waiting for them. [shouting in hebrew] [gunshots, yelling] [bleep] gal raz: we got on the road, then we ran into an ambush. they shot about 8 to 10 gunshots on the car. maya alper: a lot of cars started to turn around and honk, and be like, turn around, turn around. hai cohen: i remember that i'm holding the wheel. ok? and i'm telling myself, get ready, buddy. they are coming. anderson cooper: at 7:39 am, this dash cam video shows a hamas gunmen firing into a car on the road just north of the festival site. the car accelerates. and more gunmen shoot at those inside. this gunman also shoots repeatedly, and at least three shots hit the dashboard. the car accelerates faster, and this gunman fires as well. the car crashes into another vehicle parked on the side of the road. it's not known how many people were inside. there were at least eight bomb shelters on the road north and south near the festival site. avi mayer: this is a part of israel that is under constant rocket barrage and has been so for decades. and so there are many sites throughout the region that have these fortified concrete structures that are used for protection. many of the participants found one of those structures and went inside, assuming that they would be safe. anderson cooper: [? einor ?] [? cogno, ?] who'd driven south, pulled over to hide in a shelter. subject: just a room, on, like, 3 meters and 3 meters, closed from every side. one door. we were, like, 14 people there. i could hear shootings again-- shootings that i recognized are terrorists shooting. but it was, right now, very close, like, very close. anderson cooper: [? einor ?] decided to make a run for it. he was lucky. subject: i took a decision that i think probably saved my life. anderson cooper: at this shelter just north of the festival, you can see hamas gunmen throwing a grenade inside. a man runs out, trying to escape. [gunshots] he was immediately gunned down. 19-year-old noam cohen recorded this video. [shouting] inside another shelter a few miles further north in alumim. the concrete room was packed with people. [shouting] you can hear the panic in their voices, asking, what's going on? are there israeli soldiers nearby? noam cohen: we got in the shelter with, like, 30 people. and then, after five minutes inside the shelter, we just hear enormous, like, boom, like explosion, grenades inside of our shelter. [screaming] anderson cooper: we aren't going to show you the videos he recorded next. they are among the most gruesome we've ever seen. noam cohen: the deadliest kind of the grenades, those kind of grenades that throw pieces all over, metal pieces, screws-- i don't know what they put in there. i saw my friends exploding in front of my face. anderson cooper: noam says he hid under body parts to survive. that's him, terrified but alive. noam cohen: it was a horror movie. anderson cooper: we found a shelter in the town of alumim. someone had put a curtain up over the doorway, but nothing could hide the smell as you entered. my cameraman, neil hallsworth, who's experienced a lot of war, began to retch and had to step outside. [retching] there's bloody handprints on the wall. there's blood smeared on the walls. you can see-- probably, these are either bullet holes or from the grenades that were thrown in here. body parts have already been collected from here, but blood-soaked clothes and shoes remain. this looks to be a bloody handprint. the shelter is no more than 15 feet long, maybe 5-and-1/2-, 5-feet wide. the idea of so many people packed in here, standing shoulder to shoulder, terrified, screaming-- it's incredible that anybody was able to survive. cnn has identified at least four different shelters where festivalgoers were shot or killed with grenades. back at the festival site, the butchering continued. roughly two hours after it began, dashcam video retrieved from abandoned cars in the parking area show heavily armed hamas gunmen moving around, shooting freely. [gunshots] this body camera video shows a gunman shooting repeatedly and systematically into portable toilets where people had hidden. this photo from another toilet nearby shows bloodstains on the wall and on the ground. at 9:23 am, nearly three hours into the attack, this dashcam in the parking area records a bloodied hostage being led away. then under the car, you can see another man hiding. he moves slightly, then stops. a gunman runs right up to him and shoots him, point blank, in the head or upper body. when we return-- the festivalgoers kidnapped by hamas. mark hertling: the objective was to not only kill a lot of jews, but also to capture jews. [yelling] avi mayer: there are those who were killed and those who have gone missing and are presumed being held hostage in gaza. we're talking about couples. we're talking about young people. we have families who are begging for information. - elkana bohbot, noa argamani, avinatan or, shani louk, and omer wenkert are just some of the festivalgoers who were kidnapped. ricardo grichener: the situation is brutal. omer is 22 years old, civilian, restaurant manager. he has nothing to do with the situation. anderson cooper: ricardo grichener, nephew, omer wenkert, was last seen in the back of this pickup truck. his family wants the world to see this video. omer had beeeen stripped of his clolothes and was being hit repeatedly. ricardrdo grichener:r: that you u don't know a anything is devastatating. the parents are devastated. they cannot sleep. they canannot eat. anderson cooper: omer's grandmother is a holocaust survivor. tzili wenkert: [speaking hebrew] ricardo grichener: [speaking hebrew].. tzili says there is no harder thing that a holocaust survivor can hear. she is 82 years old. she's not ready for hearing this kind of dreadful news. anderson cooper: it's not known how many people were kidnapped from the festival, but in total, israeli authorities have said as many as 150 men, women, and children may have been taken from multiple locations. many families have had to scour jihadist videos online, looking for any sign of their loved ones. hadas gold: we have heard from families of those that are believed to have been abducted, essentially piecing together on their own what they believe happened, using their last messages from their loved ones, using photos that others took, and using other survivors who were potentially with them, and trying to piece together exactly what happened in the final moments before they were taken by hamas. anderson cooper: hamas posted this video of elkana bohbot, tied up and terrified. this is the only image his brother has found of him. uriel bohbot: all of his friends that go to this peaceful music festival-- i try, and i try, and i keep trying, till someone-- one of them-- told me, i just saw your brother on the video, this video coming from the other side, from gaza side. [yelling] anderson cooper: hamas posted this video of noa argamani, forced onto a motorcycle. she's screaming, don't kill me, and reaching out to her captured boyfriend, avinatan or. the couple had earlier sent out this photo while hiding near bushes at the festival. shlomit marciano: we suppose they probably were hiding for three or four hours, begging for help. they started hiding after hearing the massacres and the shooting. anderson cooper: shlomit, you're a childhood friend of noa's. talk about, what is she like? shlomit marciano: noa is one-of-a-kind person. she's very caring, down to earth, very fun, very ambitious. she takes her studies very seriously. her mother, leora, is suffering from cancer, and she's really helping her, taking care of her. anderson cooper: and leora, what would you want your daughter to hear right now? if she might hear [inaudible],, what do you want her to know? leora argamani: we are waiting for her at home. shlomit marciano: i want people to know that those are innocent people that were-- just wanted to have fun, and they've just been slaughtered, beenen killed. hundreds of people are missing, and my best friend is one of them. we want to bring her back as soon as possible, and we need all of the kidnapped people here. anderson cooper: most of the estimated 150 hostages were taken from the festival in various kibbutzim, small farming communities very close to the gaza border. hadas gold: we've all seen the videos of hostages being taken away. and most likely, they went back into gaza the same way that they came out-- through the breaches in the fence. there's really no other way to get in or out. we don't know the exact number of hostages that were taken from the festival. [shouting] anderson cooooper: shani louous mother s saw her daughteter inin this sickenining video. she'd beenen stripped and d appd ununconscious, lyiying in the k of a pickukup truck with one gunman's leg draped over her waist and another holding a clump of her hair. a mob shouted, god is great, and someone spat on her. heher mother, ricac