IDF combat helicopter targeting Hamas fighters at Nova festival massacre shot some partygoers by mistake, says Haaretz
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- The IDF mistakenly hit Nova festival attendees while aiming for Hamas militants, Haaretz reports.
- 364 people were killed at the psychedelic trance music festival near the Gaza border.
- A police investigation reportedly indicates that Hamas did not know about the festival in advance.
A police investigation of the Nova music festival massacre on October 7 indicates that the IDF mistakenly shot some festival attendees while firing at Hamas terrorists.
The alleged debacle was reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing a police source.
The source told Haaretz that their police investigation intimates that an IDF combat helicopter fired at terrorists after arriving on the scene. While targeting the perpetrators, the helicopter reportedly also hit the festivalgoers.
Business Insider reached out to Josh Breiner, the Haaretz journalist who broke this story, for comment.
Three hundred sixty-four people were killed at the festival, a third of the fatalities from Hamas militants' coordinated terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, per The Times of Israel.
Israeli security's assessment is that Hamas did not have advance knowledge of the Nova music festival next to Kibbutz Re'im, and targeted it spontaneously after infiltrating Gaza's border, Haaretz reports.
The festival was initially billed to end on Friday night and only extended to Saturday, late in the day, it reported.
Approximately 3,500 people attended the psychedelic trance festival three miles away from the Gaza border, per The New York Times.
Alongside the fatalities, dozens of festival attendees were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. A video of 25-year-old Noa Argamani being hoisted onto a motorcycle by militants while calling for her boyfriend went viral on social media.