Israel revises death toll from 2023 attack on music festival
The Israeli military said on Thursday that Hamas militants killed 378 people at the Nova music festival during their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
The figure was released after the military briefed the victims’ families and survivors this week on the findings of its investigation into the attack.
On that day, about 3,400 people attended the techno music festival in Reim, less than three miles from the Gaza border.
The investigation showed police ordered the festival’s closure at 6:35 am, just six minutes after Hamas fired thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip as it launched the attack on southern Israeli communities.
Most revellers managed to escape before a first wave of “110 terrorists” arrived at the site at 8:20 am, the military reported.
The report concluded that Hamas fighters had not originally planned to attack the festival but lost their way en route to Netivot, a northern city they never reached.
The first soldiers dispatched to rescue festival-goers arrived only at 11:20 am, according to the investigation.
Victims’ relatives said military officials apologised and acknowledged their failure when presenting them the findings.
“We learned nothing new. We already knew they had failed,” a relative said, declining to be identified.
The final death toll from the massacre at the festival stands at 378, including 344 civilians.
The previous death toll of the attack was more than 370.
During the attack on the festival and its surroundings, Hamas abducted 44 people.
Seventeen remain captive in Gaza, with 11 presumed to be alive.
Nineteen hostages taken from the festival were either killed on October 7 itself or died in captivity, according to the military.
Hamas’ unprecedented assault on Israel resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians.
Of the 251 people abducted that day, 58 remain hostage in Gaza, with 34 confirmed dead, according to the Israeli military.
In retaliation to the October 7 attack, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a blistering military offensive that has killed at least 50,523 people, the majority of them civilians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry figures, which the UN considers reliable.
