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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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2023 Re'im music festival massacre
Part of October 2023 Gaza−Israel conflict
Native nameהטבח במסיבת הטבע ליד רעים
LocationRe'im, Southern District, Israel
Coordinates31°23′52″N 34°28′18″E / 31.39778°N 34.47167°E / 31.39778; 34.47167
Date7 October 2023; 12 months ago (2023-10-07)
Attack type
Mass shooting, mass murder
Deaths260+[1][2]
Perpetrator Hamas

On 7 October 2023, at the start of an invasion of Israel by Hamas in October 2023, Hamas terrorists who had entered Israel from the Gaza Strip attacked civilians at a music festival near the Re'im secular kibbutz.[3][4] At least 260 were killed, with many others wounded. The gunmen took hostages; their locations and condition are not publicly known.[3][5][6]

Prelude

See also: Battle of Re'im

On 6 October 2023, the weekend-long outdoor trance music festival, called the Supernova Sukkot Gathering,[7][8] began in the western Negev desert,[6] approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) from the Gaza–Israel barrier, near the Re'im kibbutz.[3][9] It was produced by an organizer called Nova,[9][6][a] as the Israeli edition of Universo Paralello, a psy trance festival that originated in Bahia, Brazil.[7] According to the organizer, the site was booked only two days before, after the original location in southern Israel backed out.[11] Scheduled to coincide with the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah,[3] the rave was billed as a celebration of "friends, love and infinite freedom".[9] 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 ages 20 to 40, from across the country.[6] Attendance was reported to be 3,500, but figures vary.[12][b] Security guards were present at the festival.[6]

Attack

The musical festival was amongst the first targets of the surprise attack against Israel, launched by Hamas in the early morning hours of 7 October 2023.[9]

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] At least some of the Hamas gunmen who attacked the festival infiltrated Israel via motorized paragliders,[13] arriving around 6:30 a.m., around sunrise.[13][14] As festival attendees fled in panic, jeeps filled with gunmen began firing at the escaping cars.[9][6] Gunmen also blockaded roads.[9] The wide open terrain left few places to hide.[9] 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.[6]

Independently verified drone footage of the site showed dozens of scorched, burnt cars and skid marks.[15] Photographs from the aftermath of the attack show dozens of bodies at the festival grounds, including a badly burned body bound by cable ties.[16] Hamas paraded the battered body of Shani Nicole Louk, a 22-year-old tattoo artist and German-Israeli dual citizen, clad only in her underwear in the back of a pickup truck; the video shows gunmen chanting "Allahu Akbar", one draping his leg over her waist, another grabbing her hair, and a man in the crowd spitting on her body.[17][18][19][9] Other footage of the attack, posted on a Telegram channel, included graphic depictions of murder and hostage-taking.[15][12] Footage from the attack "raised concerns of sexual assault against women", according to The Times of Israel.[17]

Death toll

ZAKA, Israel's volunteer community emergency response group, reported retrieving at least 260 bodies from the party grounds.[9][20][21] The death toll is expected to rise, as other paramedic organizations also responded to the scene.[21]

One of those killed was a British man serving in the Israeli military; among the missing is another British man.[22] Lior Asulin, a striker who had played for Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C., was also among those killed in the massacre.[23]

Taking of hostages

The Gaza fighters captured an unknown number of participants; videos on social media showed them being seized by their armed captors.[18] The abducted concertgoers were taken to Gaza,[14] where some were filmed in Hamas propaganda videos.[24] Relatives and friends of the missing searched for information about the missing.[14][25]

Response

International reaction

At a Las Vegas concert on October 9, just two days after the tragic massacre, Bono, the frontman of U2, paid tribute to the victims of the festival shooting by dedicating the song "Pride (In the Name of Love)" to them.[26]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ also referred to as Tribe of Nova[10]
  2. ^ After the attack, relatives searching for missing loved ones said more than one thousand were at the event at the time of the attack.[9] Some festival attendees estimated a higher figure, of 3,000–4,000 people.[9] An emergency medic who responded to the massacre at the festival placed attendance at 3,000.[3]

References

  1. ^ Tal, Amir (8 October 2023). "At least 260 bodies found at music festival site in Israel after Hamas attack, rescue organization says". Israel at war with Hamas after unprecedented attacks. Jerusalem: CNN. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023. At least 260 bodies have been found at the site of an Israeli music festival following Saturday's attack by Hamas, according to Israeli rescue service Zaka.
  2. ^ Boxerman, Aaron; Frenkel, Sheera (8 October 2023). "Dozens were killed at a music festival and others abducted". Israel-Gaza Conflict. New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 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. ^ Estrin, Daniel; Chappell, Bill; Kaplow, Larry; Kim, Juliana (7 October 2023). "All-out war: Israel pounds Gaza after militants infiltrate in a large-scale attack". NPR. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ "Tribe Of Nova Proudly Presents UNIVERSO PARALELLO ISRAEL EDITION, 6-7 October 2023, SUPERNOVA Sukkot Gathering". www.eventer.co.il (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ a b Arijeta Lajka; Riley Mellen (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.
  13. ^ a b Colin Freeman and Nataliya Vasilyeva, How a sunrise desert rave was shattered by paragliding Hamas gunmen Archived 8 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Telegraph (8 October 2023).
  14. ^ a b c Bethan McKernan & Quique Kierszenbaum (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.
  15. ^ a b Sarah Cahlan, Meg Kelly & Samuel Oakford, New video shows aftermath of music festival massacre Archived 8 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Washington Post (October 8, 2023).
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ a b Sharon, Jeremy (8 October 2023). "Footage of Hamas assault on civilians shows likely war crimes, experts say". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  18. ^ a b Murphy, Paul P.; Goodwin, Allegra; Brown, Benjamin; Paget, Sharif (8 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.
  19. ^ Kalisch, Muriel (8 October 2023). "(S+) Israel: Shani Louk, die Deutsche in der Gewalt der Hamas" [(S+) Israel: Shani Louk, the German in the hands of Hamas]. Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023. Die Familie hat die junge Frau auf dem Video erkannt, ein Ex-Freund von Shani Louk hat es ihnen zugeschickt. ... Die 22-Jährige lebt allein in Tel Aviv... (transl. The family recognized the young woman in the video; an ex-boyfriend of Shani Louk sent it to them. ... The 22-year-old lives alone in Tel Aviv...)
  20. ^ "ZAKA says more than 250 bodies collected from site of music festival attacked by Hamas". Times of Israel. 8 October 2023. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  21. ^ a b Tia Goldenberg; Wafaa Shurafa (8 October 2023). "Israel declares war and approves 'significant' steps to retaliate for surprise attack by Hamas". Associated Press News. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  22. ^ "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.
  23. ^ "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.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ Israel terror: Bono dedicates U2 concert to slain festival victims
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