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Nova music festival massacre

Coordinates: 31°23′52″N 34°28′18″E / 31.39778°N 34.47167°E / 31.39778; 34.47167
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Re'im music festival massacre
Part of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
Parked cars damaged during the massacre
Re'im is located in Israel
Re'im
Re'im
class=notpageimage|
Site of the attack in Israel
LocationRe'im, Israel
Coordinates31°23′52″N 34°28′18″E / 31.39778°N 34.47167°E / 31.39778; 34.47167
Date7 October 2023; 13 months ago (2023-10-07)
starting c. 7 am (UTC+3)
TargetCivilians
Attack type
Mass shooting, hostage taking
Weaponsincluding AK-47 assault rifles and grenades[1]
Deaths270+[2]
Perpetrator Hamas
MotivePalestinian political violence

On 7 October 2023, Hamas militants invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip and massacred 260 civilians, injured a greater number, and took an unknown number of hostages at the "Supernova Sukkot Gathering", an open-air psychedelic trance music festival celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot near the Re'im kibbutz.[3][4][5]

This was the biggest terror attack in the history of the State of Israel,[6][7][1] the worst Israeli civilian massacre ever, and the deadliest music concert attack in history.[8] It was part what Hamas called "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood", which included massacres of hundreds of other Israeli and international civilians in nearby communities of Netiv HaAsara, Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Holit that same day[9] and started the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.

At 6:30 am around sunrise, rockets were noticed in the sky.[1] Around 7 am, a siren warned of an incoming rocket attack, prompting festivalgoers to flee. Subsequently, armed militants, dressed in military attire and using motorcycles, trucks and paragliders, surrounded the festival grounds and indiscriminately fired on individuals attempting to escape. Attendees seeking refuge in nearby locations, such as bomb shelters, bushes, and orchards, were killed while in hiding. Those who reached the road and parking were trapped in a traffic jam as militants fired at vehicles. The militants executed some wounded individuals at point-blank range as they crouched on the ground.[10][7]

The details of their whereabouts and condition of the hostages are not publicly known.[3][4][11]

Gathering and festivities

Supernova Sukkot Gathering was a weekend-long outdoor trance music festival that began on 6 October 2023.[12][13] It took place in the western Negev desert,[5] approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) from the Gaza–Israel barrier, near the Re'im kibbutz.[3][14] Produced by an organizer called Nova[14][5] (also referred to as Tribe of Nova),[15] it was the Israeli edition (pre-festival event) of Universo Paralello, a psy trance festival started 23 years ago in Bahia, Brazil.[12] The organizers switched to the site only two days before, after the original location in southern Israel did not work out.[16] Scheduled to coincide with the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah,[3] the rave was billed as a celebration of "friends, love and infinite freedom".[14] The festival site had three stages, a camping zone, and an area with a bar and food.[3] Attendees described the crowd as mostly consisting of Israelis of ages 20–40 from across the country.[5] Attendance was reported to be 3,500, but figures vary.[17][a] Security guards and police were present at the festival.[5][16]

Hamas' assault

See also: Timeline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war and List of massacres during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

The musical festival was one of the first targets of Hamas' surprise attack against Israel in the early morning hours of 7 October 2023.[14] It is not known whether Hamas knew beforehand that the festival was taking place there or whether they heard the music and came across it by chance.[18] One attendee stated that after cutting the electricity, a group of approximately 50 Hamas gunmen arrived in vans and sprayed gunfire in all directions.[3] Some of the Hamas gunmen who attacked the festival infiltrated Israel via motorized paragliders,[19] arriving around 6:30 am.[19][20]

As festival attendees fled in panic, jeeps filled with gunmen began firing at the escaping cars.[14][5] Gunmen also blockaded roads.[14] The open terrain left few places to hide.[14] Many attendees who hid in the trees were murdered as militants methodically shot them.[3] Others who hid in bushes and orchards managed to survive.[3] The massacre took place amid a rocket siren, signaling a barrage of rockets fired into Israel.[5] Independently verified drone footage of the site showed dozens of scorched, burnt cars and skid marks.[21] Footage of the attack, posted on a Telegram channel, included graphic depictions of murder and hostage taking.[21][17]

The Hamas militants kidnapped an unknown number of participants; videos on social media showed them being seized.[22] The abducted concertgoers were taken to Gaza,[20] where some were filmed in Hamas propaganda videos.[23] Relatives and friends of the missing searched for information about the missing.[20][24] Those apparently abducted by Hamas included Shani Louk – a 22-year-old German-Israeli dual citizen,[25] a British man,[26] and a 25-year-old Chinese-Israeli woman.[27] Three dual Brazilian-Israeli nationals who had attended the festival were also missing.[25]

Witnesses have reported that some of the captured women have been raped. The Israel Defense Forces have not verified the claims.[28] Testimonies were also provided by eyewitnesses who survived the massacre.[29]

Casualties

Photographs from the aftermath of the attack show dozens of bodies at the festival grounds, including a badly burned body bound by cable ties.[30] ZAKA, Israel's volunteer community emergency response group, reported retrieving at least 260 bodies from the party grounds.[14][31][32] The death toll is expected to rise, as other paramedic organizations also responded to the scene.[32]

One of those killed was a British man serving in the Israeli military.[26] Lior Asulin, a retired football striker who had played for Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club, was also among those killed in the massacre.[33] The event's organizer, Osher Vaknin, was killed in the attack, while his twin and co-organizer Michael went missing.[34]

Investigation

As of 14 October 2023, German authorities are aware of eight of its nationals being taken as hostage in the overall events of 7 October 2023, including the case of Shani Louk,[35] which had gained public interest.[36][37] They opened a criminal probe against unknown Hamas members to investigate "belonging to a foreign terrorist group, hostage-taking and murder".[38][36][39]

Response

See also: 2023 Israel–Hamas war and Timeline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

Hamas denied that the attack was against civilians and said that it viewed the victims as "soldiers".[40] Later Hamas changed their stance claiming that forces under Hamas never targeted civilians but the massacre was carried out by independent groups of Gazan civilians after Hamas had defeated the Israeli forces in the region.[41]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ After the attack, relatives searching for missing loved ones said more than one thousand were at the event at the time of the attack.[14] Some festival attendees estimated a higher figure, of 3,000–4,000 people.[14] An emergency medic who responded to the massacre at the festival placed attendance at 3,000.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Debre, Isabel (9 October 2023). "Israeli survivors recount terror at music festival, where Hamas militants killed at least 260". ABC News. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  2. ^ Témoignage d'un survivant du festival Supernova où 270 personnes ont été tuées par le Hamas Archived 14 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Anelise Borges, Euronews, October 12, 2023
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gillett, Francesca (8 October 2023). "How an Israel music festival turned into a nightmare after Hamas attack". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  4. ^ a b Tabachnick, Cara (8 October 2023). "Israelis search for loved ones with posts and pleas on social media". CBS News. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Borschel-Dan, Amanda (7 October 2023). "Thousands flee rocket and gunfire at all-night desert 'Nature Party'; dozens missing". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  6. ^ Israel has suffered the biggest terror attack in its history. How will it respond? Archived 10 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine, The Economist, October 9th 2023
  7. ^ a b "What to know about the deadly Hamas attack on an Israeli music festival". Al Jazeera English. 10 October 2023. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  8. ^ Browne, David; Dillon, Nancy; Grow, Kory (15 October 2023). "'They Wanted to Dance in Peace. And They Got Slaughtered'. Israel's Supernova festival celebrated music and unity. It turned into the deadliest concert attack in history". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  9. ^ Times, The New York (10 October 2023). "Hamas Leaves Trail of Terror in Israel". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  10. ^ DeBre, Isabel; Biesecker, Michael (9 October 2023). "Israeli survivors recount terror at music festival, where Hamas militants killed at least 260". AP News. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Thousands flee rocket and gunfire at all-night desert 'Nature Party'; dozens missing". The Times of Israel. 7 October 2023. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  12. ^ a b Bain, Katie (8 October 2023). "At Least 260 People Dead After Attack At Israeli Electronic Music Festival". Billboard. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Tribe Of Nova Proudly Presents UNIVERSO PARALELLO ISRAEL EDITION, 6–7 October 2023, SUPERNOVA Sukkot Gathering". Eventer (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Morris, Loveday; Piper, Imogen; Sohyun Lee, Joyce; George, Susannah (8 October 2023). "How a night of dancing and revelry in Israel turned into a massacre". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  15. ^ Gilmore, Grant (8 October 2023). "Hundreds Reportedly Killed at Trance Festival in Israel". EDM Identity. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  16. ^ a b Bain, Katie (8 October 2023). "Artist Manager Describes Israeli Rave Massacre: 'It Turned Into a Nightmare'". Billboard. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  17. ^ a b Lajka, Arijeta; Mellen, Riley (8 October 2023). "Video captures concertgoer being kidnapped by militants". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  18. ^ Seddon, Sean; Cheetham, Joshua; Garman, Benedict. "Supernova festival: How massacre unfolded from verified video and social media". BBC News. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  19. ^ a b Freeman, Colin; Vasilyeva, Nataliya (8 October 2023). "How a sunrise desert rave was shattered by paragliding Hamas gunmen". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  20. ^ a b c McKernan, Bethan; Kierszenbaum, Quique (8 October 2023). "Shock and anger: Israelis search for loved ones after Hamas attack". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  21. ^ a b Cahlan, Sarah; Kelly, Meg; Oakford, Samuel (9 October 2023). "New video shows aftermath of music festival massacre". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  22. ^ Murphy, Paul P.; Goodwin, Allegra; Brown, Benjamin; Paget, Sharif (9 October 2023). "Desert horror: Music festival goers heard rockets, then Gaza militants fired on them and took hostages". CNN. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  23. ^ Lindor, Canaan (8 October 2023). "Waiting for official help, relatives scan graphic videos from Gaza to find missing". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  24. ^ Breiner, Josh; Kubovich, Yaniv; Naot, Shira (7 October 2023). "Survivors of Massacre at Israeli Outdoor Rave Describe 'Battlefield'". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  25. ^ a b "Hamas Israel attacks: The international victims of the assault on Israel". BBC News. 9 October 2023. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  26. ^ a b "London-born man killed in Israel, another UK citizen missing". Reuters. 8 October 2023. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  27. ^ Zhuang, Sylvie (9 October 2023). "China-born Israeli woman Noa Argamani among those 'kidnapped by Hamas terrorists', embassy in Beijing says". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  28. ^ Rosenfeld, Arno (11 October 2023). "What we know about accounts of sexual assault during the Hamas attack". The Forward. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  29. ^ "We saw Hamas gunmen kill and rape", i24NEWS, October 14, 2023
  30. ^ Subramaniam, Tara; Raine, Andrew; Poole, Thom; Berlinger, Joshua; Chowdhury, Maureen; Meyer, Matt (8 October 2023). "Israel at war with Hamas after unprecedented attacks". CNN. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  31. ^ "ZAKA says more than 250 bodies collected from site of music festival attacked by Hamas". The Times of Israel. 8 October 2023. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  32. ^ a b Goldenberg, Tia; Shurafa, Wafaa (8 October 2023). "Israel declares war, bombards Gaza and battles to dislodge Hamas fighters after surprise attack". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  33. ^ "Ex-soccer star Lior Asulin among those killed at nature party". The Times of Israel. 8 October 2023. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  34. ^ "Family of Israel rave twin organisers buries one as other missing". France 24. 11 October 2023. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  35. ^ "Familie von Shani Louk: Nach Baerbock-Besuch Unterstützung". Die Zeit. Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 14 October 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  36. ^ a b "Israel: Mindestens fünf Deutsche als Geisel genommen". ZDF (in German). 10 October 2023. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  37. ^ Fischer, Jan-Frederik; Schiller, Eva (10 October 2023). "Israel: Shani Louk – Deutsche Geisel der Hamas lebt" [Israel: Shani Louk – German Hamas hostage alive]. ZDF (in German). Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023. Das Video der schwer verletzten Shani Louk erlangte im Internet große Bekanntheit. (transl. The video of seriously injured Shani Louk became widely known on the Internet.)
  38. ^ "Germany Opens Hamas Probe, As Mother Appeals For Help". Barron's. Agence France-Presse. 10 October 2023. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  39. ^ "'She's alive': Mum claims Shani Louk is fighting for life in Gaza hospital". The New Zealand Herald. 11 October 2023. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  40. ^ Meiri, Gilad (10 October 2023). "Unbelievable: Hamas official dismisses claims civilians massacred as 'Israeli propaganda'". Ynetnews. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  41. ^ "Hamas leader: 1,200 members of al-Qassam Brigades entered Israel". The Jerusalem Post. 12 October 2023. Archived from the original on 12 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
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