Former Israeli soccer player Lior Asulin was among the more than 260 people killed by Hamas militants at dawn Saturday in the final hours of Supernova, an all-night outdoor music festival held in Israel two miles from the Gaza border.
Asulin, who celebrated his 43rd birthday Friday, played for Hapoel Tel Aviv and Bnei Sakhnin, among many other Israeli teams, during a 19-year career that ended in 2018. He served nearly a year in prison in 2021 after being convicted of selling marijuana and had worked on a horse farm since his release.
“It is with great sadness that after many hours of disappearance, we learned that the club’s former player, Lior Asulin, was murdered by terrorists during a party,” Hapoel Tel-Aviv said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Supernova rave event staged by Brazilian trance music leader Universo Paralello was attended by thousands and came at the end of Israel’s weeklong Sukkot religious festival. The event’s promoter, Tribe of Nova, described it as “a tribal journey, where the essence of unity and love combines forces with the best music, powerful and captivating international content, and breathtaking location.”
Dancing began at 10 p.m. and continued until Hamas militants used motorized paragliders to drop directly into the event and open fire about 6 a.m., according to witnesses.
The Israeli rescue service Zaka said its paramedics removed more than 260 bodies and that the figure is expected to grow because other paramedic teams also were working in the area.
The attack was part of an orchestrated surprise attack on Israel by Hamas, one of the Palestinian territories’ two major political parties best known for its armed resistance to Israel. The United States and European Union have designated Hamas a terrorist organization.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has ordered a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, ordering army commanders to cut electricity and block food and fuel from entering the densely populated Palestinian enclave on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel battled Hamas infiltrators for a third day Monday, massing tens of thousands of troops near the Gaza Strip, which militants used as a launching point for the biggest attack in decades on Israeli soil.
The rapidly escalating conflict also affected Detroit Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone, whose parents are part of a church group stuck in Israel. Anzalone said Sunday after the Lions’ game against the Carolina Panthers that his parents, Sal and Judy, are part of a 53-person group touring Israel with their church based in Naples, Fla.
The group is holed up in its Jerusalem hotel trying to find a way out of the country ahead of a scheduled flight Thursday.