KIBBUTZ RE鈥橧M, Israel (AP) 鈥 The two militants were just ahead of him, spraying gunfire from their motorcycle at passing cars. One militant was driving, the 50-year-old man said, and the other sat behind, shooting at any target he saw. At least one wore body armor.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 see me,鈥 Michael Silberberg said. So Silberberg made a decision.
He and two friends had already managed to escape the slaughter at the , where hundreds of militants from the Palestinian group Hamas had swarmed through crowds, killing at least 260 people and taking an unknown number hostage.
They survived another attack a few minutes later, with two hiding in a roadside air-raid shelter while the other hid outside.
Soon after that they were driving away in Silberberg鈥檚 car, trying to get far from the massacre, when they saw the motorcycle.
鈥淚 knew it鈥檚 either I hit him or I know I die, or other people die, or somebody will die,鈥 Silberberg said.
So he stepped on the accelerator and slammed into the motorcycle with his four-door sedan.
The shooter, he said, died immediately. The driver survived, but they left him crawling in the street badly injured.
鈥淭hey were neutralized,鈥 Silberberg said.
The men quickly drove away, with the vehicle's front end badly dented, the car alarm blaring and smoke billowing from everywhere. They drove like that for 20 minutes until they reached a friend鈥檚 house and found safety.
Silberberg, an Israeli-born German, said he had long been politically liberal, hoping for a peace that gave Palestinians their own homeland.
鈥淵ou know: 鈥楢ll good. Let鈥檚 live all together. Let鈥檚 give them the land.鈥欌
But not anymore.
鈥淢y mind has changed. I鈥檓 sorry 鈥 I鈥檓 not sorry,鈥 he said, sitting in his seafront Tel Aviv apartment where he and his two friends hunkered down after the attack.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 make peace with these people,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to coexist with us. They want to kill us.鈥
Early Saturday morning, Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip blasted through the Israeli security fence and streamed into Israel. The attack killed , with subsequent Israeli airstrikes killing . Israel says roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed inside Israel.
In the days since the assault, Israel has as it prepares for a possible ground assault. Israel has also cut off food, fuel and medicine from Gaza鈥檚 2.3 million people, leading aid groups to warn of an impending humanitarian catastrophe. Israel says the siege will remain in place .
The Tribe of Nova festival, held in the semi-wooded fields outside Kibbutz Re鈥檌m, just a few miles from Gaza, was one of the first Hamas targets.
Videos show militants arriving on trucks and motorcycles, with gunmen charging into crowds and firing on people as they tried to flee into the fields.
Israeli communities near the festival also came under attack, with Hamas gunmen kidnapping people 鈥 soldiers, civilians, the elderly and young children 鈥 and killing scores of others.
The carnage stunned Israel, which had not seen bloodshed like this for decades.
On Thursday, a man who had been tending bar at the festival came back to the scene of the attack. He said he had no choice.
鈥淚 feel I owe them, you know, all the people that were here and murdered,鈥 Peleg Horev told an Associated Press journalist allowed to visit the scene. 鈥淚鈥檓 alive, I stayed alive. I have to tell their story. Each and every one of them."
The bodies have been cleared away from the festival grounds, but the wreckage of the attack is everywhere.
Bullet-riddled cars, many with their windows shot out, are scattered through the festival area and nearby roads. Clothing spills from broken suitcases. A woman鈥檚 shirt remains in a tree where it had been hung to dry. A pair of eyeglasses sit on a windowsill. Ticket booths are pocked with gunfire.
鈥淟ost and Found鈥 announces a festival poster hanging from a fence. 鈥淐amping Area,鈥 says another.
Leaves blow in a gentle breeze as soldiers patrol the area, occasionally dropping to the ground at the sound of distant gunfire. Security forces worry that militants could attack again, or that some could still be hiding in the fields and brush.
Peleg escaped by walking for hours, deeper into Israel. He avoided the roads, where many who tried to escape by car were killed when they were stuck behind other vehicles that had come under attack.
鈥淎ll of this time you鈥檙e hearing gunshots and screaming from afar,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e just go as far as we can as fast as we can.鈥
He is deeply shaken by the reality that he survived and so many others did not.
"I owe them, really.鈥
___
McNeil reported from Tel Aviv.
