Hundreds of people have been killed at a music festival in southern Israel.
The BBC is reporting that more than 260 bodies have been recovered from the site of the Supernova festival by rescue agency Zaka, following the attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas near the Gaza strip. Hundreds more are reported missing.
The trance music festival was being held in the desert in southern Israel to coincide with the Jewish festival of Sukkot.
A medic called to the scene estimated that about 3,000 people had attended the festival.
Among those missing is British man Jake Marlowe, 26, who the BBC reported was working as a security guard at the music event.
A siren alerted festival-goers to rocket attacks around dawn on Saturday (October 7), followed soon after by gunmen who made the site one of their first targets as part of their attack on Israel. Hostages were taken from the festival site.
Across the country, at least 700 are reported dead.
In a statement on Facebook, the festival production company Tribe Of Nova said they were “shocked and pained” by the attack.
“We support and participate in the grief of the families of the missing and murdered,” said the statement. “We are doing everything we can to assist the security forces, we are in continuous contact with them and we are located in the area with scans and searches in order to locate the missing.”
Tribe Of Nova is passing on information about missing people shared via social media to the authorities.
“In moments like these, it is important that we be strong and united, full of faith, support each other and be there for everyone who needs it,” added the statement.
According to the festival website, it was the first time that the Brazilian Universo Paralello psy-trance festival had been staged in Israel, under the name Supernova. Over 23 years, the organisers stated that the event has focused on spreading love for electronic music, maintaining the quality of the environment at festival sites and basic human values including to “love each other”.
The line-up for the event published on the official website, and scheduled for October 6-7, included French DJ Aladin, German psy-trance act Protonica and UK DJ Man With No Name.
The Independent Music Publishers International Forum (IMPF), which is currently holding its industry summit in Spain, has issued a statement following the attack.
“IMPF strongly condemns the attacks on Israeli citizens and towns by Hamas terrorists," said the organisation. "We are particularly appalled at the images emanating from what was a peaceful and happy music festival. With both Israeli and Palestinian members in our global independent music publishing community, we urge a stop to the violence and hope for peace in the region.”
Variety reported that during U2's show at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Sunday, the band dedicated Pride (In the Name of Love) to the hundreds of music fans killed at the festival in Israel, referring to them as “stars of David” in rewritten lyrics.
“Sing for our brothers and sisters — who they themselves were singing at the Supernova Sukkot festival in Israel,” Bono told the audience. “We sing for those. Our people, our kind of people, music people. Playful, experimental people. Our kind of people. We sing for them.”
Bono added: “In the light of what’s happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence… But our hearts and our anger, you know where that’s pointed. So sing with us… and those beautiful kids at that music festival.”
This is a developing news story...
