Minute-by-minute, this chat reveals in detail not seen before how Hamas stalked, murdered and burned people in their own homes, coming back again and again. It is an insight into what it felt like across southern Israel as Hamas gunmen crashed across the border and tore through dozens of communities.
It shows how residents survived and supported one another – but it also documents, hour by hour, their growing desperation, as it became clear they would not be rescued by the Israeli state anytime soon.
CCTV footage verified by the BBC shows a small group of Hamas militants arriving at the gate of the kibbutz before 06:00. A car arrives, the gate opens, and the militants run inside after shooting dead the occupants of the vehicle. Video from a few minutes later shows the same two Hamas militants walking through a square, guns by their side.
Fast forward to 07:10, as the first messages on the WhatsApp group are being shared. Video shows three motorbikes, each carrying two heavily armed Hamas militants, leaving the area by the same gate.
Other footage, which is too graphic to include here, shows militants in the kibbutz at 09:05 – three hours after first entering. It shows the same car that was shot at in the first clip with at least one body dragged out, lying in the road.
In the terrified silence of these safe rooms, where people would not dare scream, they typed frantically. Michal watched the messages stream in.
