The first rockets were fired just before dawn, flying through the sky over thousands of ravers who had been dancing through the night at a trance music festival — billed as an event celebrating “friends, love and infinite freedom.”

Initially, some of the ravers didn’t notice the sound of the explosions over the thumping music. After a while, sirens and rockets could be heard.

Then the music stopped.

A voice boomed from the loudspeakers over the tented stages: “Guys, we have red alert,” the voice warned, in a video. “Red alert.”

Then the gunfire started.

“We started running; we didn’t know where to go,” Ben Haim said. “Nobody knew what to do.”

The Tribe of Nova trance music festival, near Kibbutz Reim, was one of the first targets for Hamas militants as they launched their unprecedented attack on Israel in the early hours of Saturday morning, overrunning the concert area, shooting into the crowd and grabbing as many hostages as they could.

At least 260 bodies have been recovered from the festival and across the country, at least 700 people were killed. Dozens are still missing.

Organizers have not responded to requests for comment, but posted a message on the festival’s Instagram saying they were “stunned” and “share the grief of the missing and murdered families.”

“We hope and pray that good news will reach us and you soon,” the post said.

The festival site was just three miles from the fence that divides Israel from the Gaza Strip and its besieged millions. The ravers were told not to bring firearms or sharp objects onto the festival grounds. They were tired and defenseless, trapped in a wide-open area that offered few hiding places..