Inside the Israeli festival of 'good news' where hundreds were murdered (2024)

It was supposed to be a trance music festival "full of good news"to celebrate a Jewish religious holiday.

WARNING: This story contains details of the incident and photographs that some readers may find distressing.

But instead of partying, hundreds of young attendeeswere murdered, and otherswere left running for their lives.

Here's how it unfolded:

Thousandsdescend on thesouthern Israel music festival

Billed as the "first time" the Brazilian psy-trance festivalUniverso Paralello was held in Israel, thousands of festival goers descended on the desert outside ofKibbutz Re'im for the Supernova event.

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The location, near the Gaza Strip border, was inundated with mostly young people, who werethere to experience a "safe envelope for finding inner calm, peace, harmony" according to the festival's website.

"These are the right parameters from which extraordinary and unforgettable experiences are created," a now haunting statementreads.

It also coincided with the seven-day Jewishholiday of Sukkot— an agricultural festival of thanksgiving and a commemoration of the forty-year exodus of the Jewish people fromEgypt.

Medic Yaniv, who was called to the rave,estimated there were around 3,000 attendees, he told public broadcasterKan News.

A map of the festival shared on Facebook by the production companyTribe of Nova shows three stages, alongside camping areas and an art space.

Sirensat dawn, then gunshots

The first signs of concern were alarms sounding at sunrisefollowed by a total shutdown of music and electricity, according to attendee Ortal who spoke withIsrael's N12 news .

At first, some did not hear the sound of explosions over the music, according to The Washington Post.

But withinminutes, multiple vans loaded with Hamas militants arrived, firing at the ravers.

""The music stopped and there was a rocket siren," Ortal said.

"Suddenly out of nowhere, they started shooting."

As rocket fire exploded around, panicked party goers tried to escape in any way they could, according to witness Arik Nani.

The 26-year-old was there celebrating his birthday.

"I heard shots from every direction, they were firing at us from both sides," he told Reuters.

"Everyone was running and didn't know what to do. It was total chaos."

Zohar Maariv, 23, said she fled on foot and hid for hoursafter the car they escaped in came under fire.

Festival goers hid under trees for hours

Another attendeeEsther Borochovsaid a car had rammed her vehicle as she tried to flee before a young man told her and her friend to jump into his vehicle before he was shot point blank.

Sheplayed dead until she was rescued.

"I couldn't move my legs," she told Reuters at the hospital.

"Soldiers came and took us away to the bushes."

Many others hid under trees to evade gunfire,according to Gili Yoskovich speakingto BBC.

She hid in a pomelo tree, while people were shot around her.

"They were going tree by tree and shooting. Everywhere. From two sides. I saw people were dying all around. I was very quiet. I didn't cry, I didn't do anything," she said.

Ms Yoskovich said she was lying there for around three hours without help.

"The most crazy thing is how come we were there for such a long time and no one was there. No army, no police. Nothing."

Israel's ambulance service said its crews were unable to reach the wounded in towns where fighting was ongoing, according to Reuters.

An ambulance was also attacked, Magen David Adom medical service said.

'Murder they saw in front of their eyes'

So far, 260 bodies have been recovered from the festival, according toIsraeli rescue service Zaka.

But that death toll is likely to rise.

Mr Nani said after hours of running, he reached a shelter, only to hear other survivors share theirhorror stories.

"People speaking about murder they saw in front of their eyes, someone who saw an entire kidnapped family and a small girl who was murdered," he said.

For MrNani, the feeling of those who had not been able to escape remained.

"There were lots of terrible things along the way, people I wanted to help but couldn't," he said.

"People who were left behind, people who needed something."

Australian man Daniel Moritz was at the music festival and said he was "totally unaware and unprotected" when bombings went off over his head.

He and his five friends decided to flee in their car straight away and luckily made it home to northern Israel.

"We were just out in time," he told ABC News Mornings.

"Peoplewe saw, and most likely danced with at the party,a lot of them are dead and kidnapped andmissing."

Parents in despair as children held hostage

While the death tollgrows, fears remain for those missing or held hostage.

A senior Hamas official said the group was holding more than 100 people, including soldiers and civilians, captive.

The Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian paramilitary group, said it was holding captive more than 30 Israelis.

A British man working at the festival and a German woman are among those being held hostage, with their parents begging for their safe return.

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Some have speculated the hostages could be used as humanshields in the conflict.

Tribeof Novahas since launched a database for those who went missing at the festival.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong was unable to ascertain if any Australians were involved at this stage.

Mr Moritz said the indiscriminate taking of hostages showed the attack was a global issue.

"It's more than an Israeli problem now, it's a world problem right now," he said.

"They are attacking the world, they're not just attacking Israel."

What happens next

In a fierce counterattack, Israeli air strikes have alreadyhit housing blocks, tunnels, a mosque and homes of Hamas officials in Gaza.

The Palestinian health ministry says413 Palestinians,including 78 children, have been killed and 2,300 people have been injured since Saturday

More than 20,000 people who had fled their homes crowded into schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, the agency said.

An Israeli official said security forces had killed 400 militants and captured dozens more.

Israel Defence Forces internationalspokesman LieutenantColonel Jonathan Conricus said whatlay ahead was a "long conflict".

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"This is a war," he told ABC News Mornings.

"This is a situation like which we have never seen before.

"What will be demanded of us will take time, resolve, resources, commitment."