Ethermac|Map, aerial images show where Hamas attacked Israeli towns near Gaza Strip

Images from the grisly attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip reveal some of the devastating aftermath from the surprise strike. A map shows the highly coordinated assault that ignited a war struck several parts of Israel surrounding the Palestinian territory.

What towns has Hamas attacked?Ethermac

Communities in southern Israel, near the Gaza Strip, were targeted by Hamas gunmen who broke through the border barricades or infiltrated by boat or paragliders.

Among those killed in the attack were American Deborah Matias and her husband Shlomi, who lived in a kibbutz near the Gaza border, according to Matias' father, Brandeis University professor Ilan Troen. He was on the phone with his daughter during the attack.

"She could only say to us that, 'I hear glass breaking and voices in Arabic and they're shooting,'" Troen told CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes.

Matias' 16-year-old son was also shot, but he survived.

"It was she who saved his life, by design, falling on him," Troen said. "And the bullet that reached his abdomen came through her."

In the Kfar Aza kibbutz, just a few miles from the Gaza border, Israeli Maj. Gen. Itai Veruv described the scene to reporters as "something that we used to imagine from our grandfathers, grandmothers in the pogrom in Europe and other places," according to the Reuters news agency.

"You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers, in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms and how the terrorist kills them. It's not a war, it's not a battlefield. It's a massacre," Veruv said.

First responders and security forces said they found evidence of atrocities including babies and children beheaded.

"We see blood spread out in homes. We've found bodies of people who have been butchered," said Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Maj. Libby Weiss told CBS News. "The depravity of it is haunting."

Bodies of Israelis and Hamas fighters were seen in the streets near burned-out houses and cars.

In a field outside of Kibbutz Re'im, located in the northwestern area of the Negev desert a little over 3 miles from the border wall between Israel and Gaza, according to The Associated Press, Hamas gunmen attacked a music festival, killing at least 260 people and abducting others. Among those believed to have been kidnapped include 25-year-old Noa Argamani, who was forced onto the back of a motorcycle, CBS News foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab reports.

Festivalgoer Gal Levy, 22, was shot in both of his legs and told Tyab he's not sure if he'll walk again.

"I feel let down by the army," Levy said. "… I lost like two liters of blood, and I was really sure … that that's it, I am going to die. And I told my parents, like, 'all good, I'm OK,' but when I told them that, I was with both my legs, like, popped out."

In the small farming community of Be'eri, about three miles from Gaza, Israeli rescue workers discovered more than 100 bodies, about 10% of the kibbutz's population.

Hamas militants set fire to the apartment building where Miri Messika lived with her husband and three children on the kibbutz. She told "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell they had to jump from a second-floor window to escape the flames, her 15-year-old son breaking his foot from the fall.

Asked what she thought would have happened if they didn't jump, she told O'Donnell they would have burned to death. The family then spent seven hours in a bomb shelter, where they could still hear gunfire outside, before Israeli soldiers evacuated them.

"We know that there are bodies over there, we know that many people got killed, we don't have names yet," Messika said.

In Sderot, less than 2 miles from the Gaza border, Hamas gunmen killed dozens, leaving Israelis dead in the streets. At least nine people were shot dead at a bust shelter, The Associated Press reported. The local police station was burned and left in ruins.

What is a kibbutz?

A kibbutz is an Israeli collective settlement. Other kibbutzim attacked by Hamas include Nir Oz, Gevim and Zikim.

Where is the Gaza Strip?

The Gaza Strip is a narrow, 25-mile-long stretch of land located on the eastern Mediterranean coast with Egypt to its west and Israel to its south and east. The territory is controlled by Hamas, which took power in 2007.

The strip's border with Israel is about 36 miles long and its border with Egypt is about eight miles. Gaza's 25-mile coastline has been blocked by the Israeli Navy since 2009 and is closed to all maritime traffic. Fishermen operating out of Gaza can only go six nautical miles from the shore.

The strip is about 139 square miles — a little more than twice the size of Washington, D.C. — with a population of over 2 million, 40% of whom are under the age of 14, according to the CIA.

What Middle East countries surround Israel?

Israel shares its western border with Egypt. Jordan is east of Israel. Between part of Israel and Jordan is the Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Lebanon is north of Israel, and Syria is to its northeast.

In:
• Hamas
• Israel
• Gaza Strip

Alex Sundby

Alex Sundby is a senior editor for CBSNews.com.

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