Inside dance festival that became the worst massacre in Israel's history

In this aerial view, people walk past portraits of those who were taken hostage or killed in the Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival on October 7. [AFP]

As Mazal Tazazo bought a ticket to attend the Nova music festival, she imagined pulsating rhythms under glittering night lights, bodies moving in unison, laughter echoing through the crowd and the comfort of her friends.

The weekend-long festival scheduled for October 5-7, 2023, promised joy, freedom and connection. It was billed as a celebration of ‘friends, love and infinite freedom,’ featuring prominent psychedelic trance artists. The site included three performance areas, a camping area, food stalls and a bar.

As fate would have it, on the early morning of October 7, music gave way to chaos. Hamas militants stormed the festival grounds near the Gaza border, killing hundreds of revellers, abducting others, and turning a scene of celebration into one of horror.

An investigation report by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) describes the attack as the deadliest terrorist assault in Israel’s history. It killed 397 people, including civilians, police officers and Shin Bet agents. Another 44 people were abducted, 11 of whom were later killed in captivity.

Mazal survived, but two of her closest friends did not.

During a recent visit to the site, located less than 3km from the Gaza Strip and still facing rocket attacks, visitors are greeted at the entrance by a large sign bearing a stark warning.

"You are standing at the Nova site. Please note-this area is under the threat of rocket attack, the time available to reach shelter here is 15 seconds."

Israel has built safety shelters where visitors can quickly take cover when alerted to imminent terrorist or rocket attacks. They are instructed to lie on the ground and protect their heads with their hands for 10 minutes.

It also instructs visitors to remain alert and follow the directions provided by the security forces on site.

Today, the site of the massacre has been transformed into the Nova Festival Victims Memorial. Hundreds of photographs of victims are mounted on posts, while flowers, candles and wreaths line the grounds, in memory of those killed.

On this day, the Nova site was a hive of activity, with visitors, families, tourists, and survivors, quietly walking through to commemorate the site.

Mazal lives in the city of Netivot, in Israel’s Southern District, about 15 km from the Nova site.

She arrived on Friday night with two friends. By then, around 3,500 people had gathered.

They were excited. She recalls the DJ calling people from the small tents to the dance floor. “We’d dance, go back to drink a bit, then return to the dance floor,” she says.

At 6.20am, as the sun began to rise, Mazal went to her tent to retrieve her sunglasses. Suddenly, rockets appeared in the sky, and a siren warned of an incoming attack. Music stopped.

Hamas militants, dressed in military uniforms, descended on the festival grounds using motorcycles, trucks and powered paragliders. The security urged everyone to leave immediately.

“I looked at the sky and saw countless trails of smoke. Rockets were everywhere. Chaos erupted as panicked revellers fled toward bomb shelters, bushes and nearby orchards as militants fired indiscriminately at those trying to escape,” she says.

Mazal fell to the ground alongside several others, lying still as bullets struck nearby.

She shares, “When the shooting stopped in our direction, my back and head were covered in blood, though I wasn’t hit. The blood made it look like it came from my head. The terrorists thought I was dead. That’s what saved me.”

Around her, more than four people lay lifeless.

She then saw militants set a large fire, apparently intending to burn bodies and property.

As the flames crept closer, she seized her chance and using the smoke as cover, Mazal ran a few steps and jumped into an abandoned car, curling herself into the back seat.

She remained hidden there for more than two hours, until she heard people discussing how to rescue survivors.

She called out, they came and pulled her from the vehicle, rushed her to an ambulance, and then to hospital. It was there she realized was injured and later underwent two surgeries on her hand.

The days that followed were the hardest of Mazal’s life. The families of her two deceased friends, kept calling, desperate for information she did not have.

“After a week, bodies of her friends were found. The fire had destroyed them so much that identification took time,” she says.

Today, Mazal, born in the 1990s to parents who migrated to Israel from Ethiopia in 1984, visits the memorial site three to four times a week, to speak with visitors, share her story and preach peace.

“If you’ve never been in a war, you don’t understand,” she says. “It’s not a good thing.” Mazal has since joined international delegations, speaking about the human cost of war.

In the aftermath of the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharply criticised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after a spokesman denied Hamas’ involvement in the Nova festival massacre.

“Today the Palestinian Authority spokesman in Ramallah said something utterly preposterous. It denied that it was Hamas that carried out the horrible massacre at the Nova Festival near Gaza,” Netanyahu says.

On the first anniversary of the attack, flags flew at half-staff outside Israel’s parliament. Survivors and families gathered at the Nova site, where Netanyahu and Jerusalem’s mayor lit candles in memory of the victims.

“We went through a terrible massacre a year ago, and we stood up as a people, as lions,” he says.

In late January 2024, the memorial was formally opened to the public. Visitors can learn about the attack, the victims and the survivors.

Andre Watkins, was one of the visitors to the site. “I followed the attack through the media. When the memorial opened, I promised myself I would come,” he says.

Watkins, visiting from the United Kingdom, shares, “It’s an honour to be here. It’s however tragic that lives were lost in this way. I’m here to pay my respects.”

He stresses the need for unity across religions and borders.

Reports later suggested that Hamas fighters likely did not know about the festival in advance, but encountered it by chance and chose to attack.

The massacre has been commemorated worldwide. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Israeli sailors Nitai Hasson and Noa Lasry named their dinghy ‘Nova’ in tribute.

The 66th Annual Grammy Awards also honoured the victims, with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. leading a tribute accompanied by a string quartet of Israeli, Palestinian and Arab musicians.

Yet for Mazal, the memory of that morning massacre still clings to her, a haunting shadow she has not yet learned to live with.

“This place was meant for life. Now it reminds us how fragile life really is,” she says, standing among the photographs.