The festival—which took place miles from the Gaza Strip border—was a rave and dance party to celebrate the Jewish holiday Sukkot.
Topline
An outdoor concert and dance party in a rural area near the Gaza-Israel border turned into tragedy Saturday, when many attendees were killed or taken hostage by militants from the Gaza strip, adding to hundreds of Israeli casualties in the unprecedented attack.Key Facts
About 260 bodies were recovered from the festival grounds, though it’s expected the toll will rise, a spokesperson for ZAKA, an Israeli non-governmental rescue and recovery organization, told multiple outlets Sunday.
The SuperNova Festival—which celebrated the Jewish holiday Sukkot—took place in the Negev Desert near Urim, a kibbutz about 13 miles from the Gaza Strip.
Attendees told CNN that once they heard the gunshots early Saturday morning they tried to flee, but cars were at a standstill and gunmen were still shooting, so some ran into nearby forests and hid.
One attendee described the scene to local media as “four-five hours of a horror movie” and another described hearing sirens before the gunshots started, saying there were gunmen in every direction shooting at the concert-goers.
One festival-goer called it a “battlefield,” telling Israeli newspaper Haaretz they saw gunmen firing from all directions and burnt-out cars on the street.
