MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Israel: 260 bodies found at Brazilian rave after Hamas attack

The event took place in the Negev desert in southern Israel, near the Gaza Strip.

Some 260 bodies were found at the site of a Brazilian music festival in southern Israel attacked by Hamas on Saturday, the Zaka search and rescue organization told local media.

The rave was the Israeli edition of the Universo Paralelo electronic music party, an event founded in Brazil by DJ Juarez Petrillo, who was in Tel Aviv at the time of the attack.

Brazilians were also among the fans at the festival when the attack took place near Israel's southern border. According to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, one Brazilian national was injured and hospitalized but was later released and reported to be doing well, while three other nationals of the South American country are unaccounted for.

Mise à jour : Vidéo de la rave party dans le désert attaqué ce matin par les forces armées palestiniennes. #Gaza #Israel

Pour rester informé, suivez @les_spectateurs https://t.co/RIOGsuaROh pic.twitter.com/gc94vR0E70

— Les Spectateurs (@les_spectateurs) October 7, 2023

“My father was hired to perform at an event that licensed the rights to use the name of the festival, as has happened in several other countries. The Israeli producer licensed the use of the trademark and produced the event himself, with my father as one of the attractions,” the DJ posted on social media. “He is safe in a bunker waiting for instructions to return to Brazil,” he added.

At least 1,120 people were killed over the weekend: 700 in Israel, 413 in Gaza, and 7 in the West Bank.

According to the BBC, the rave took place in the Negev desert in southern Israel, near the Gaza Strip. Those interviewed said armed men in jeeps fired at people who tried to flee on foot or by car. One woman told Reuters that she had to play dead until Israeli army soldiers came to her rescue.

A rescuer told public broadcaster Kan News that the rave was the target of a “massacre”. He said there were around 3,000 people at the event. A Brazilian witness told G1 that ”terrorists were shooting at us and we saw hundreds of bodies in the streets.