Israeli music festival: Father of British man, 22, who escaped from Hamas terrorists who stormed Israeli ‘trance party’ says he’s ‘happy to be alive’ after watching militants kill his friend

• Elliot Sorene said his son Ariel escaped attack by running 12 miles through a field

A father has said his son feels ‘happy to be alive’ after he saw people being killed and taken hostage by Hamas terrorists at a music festival.

Elliot Sorene, a surgeon from Mill Hill in north west London said his son Ariel was not injured at the Supernova festival site, where 260 bodies have been found.

Ariel made a lucky escape after he managed to get to his Renault Clio, but had to run away after militants starting firing on his car. 

He ran about 12 miles with his friends through a field to a nearby community, the BBC reported.

Mr Sorene said his son, who has dual British-Israeli citizenship, ‘heard rockets’ while at the trance party, before seeing militants shoot indiscriminately at the partygoers.

Elliot Sorene (right) said his son Ariel (left) saw people killed and taken hostage by militants at the supernova festival in southern Israel, before he escaped with his friends

Hamas militants targeted the Supernova festival in southern Israel, where 260 bodies were found dead

Dozens of people, including some foreign nationals, at the music festival were taken as hostages, Israel’s military said

A distressing image, shared in a pixellated form on the Israeli government’s official Twitter page, showed scores of victims placed in body bags underneath a tent at the festival site 

A family, including a tearful girl, is evacuated after a rocket attack in southern Israel on Saturday

Hamas claimed to have fired 5,000 rockets into Israel from the occupied Gaza Strip, setting off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

Dozens of people have been taken as hostages from the festival and border towns, including foreign nationals, the Israeli military said.

Another partygoer named Ortel said the rockets fired were quickly followed by gunshots being fired from jeeps full of gunmen. 

Horrifying footage shows partygoers screaming while shots were fired and police are seen trying to help people evacuate. Some were seen holding hands as they ran away while others shouted ‘go, go, go’.

Survivors of the attack said they were forced to hide under bushes as they watched victims get killed one by one, until they heard the sound of people rescuers speaking in Hebrew. According to Israeli media, it took five hours for military to arrive.

Israeli rescue service Zaka said it had recovered at least 260 bodies that will be removed from the festival site. 

A senior Hamas official said last night that the militant group is holding more than 100 people captive following the attack on Israel, which has sparked fierce fighting killing and wounding thousands of people on both sides.

She told the BBC: ‘They turned off the electricity and suddenly out of nowhere they [militants] come inside with gunfire, opening fire in every direction.

A missile explodes over Gaza City last night as Israel carries out airstrikes following Hamas’ attack 

The Israeli rescue service Zaka tonight said at least 260 bodies have been removed from the festival site. Pictured: Partygoers fleeing the festival scene yesterday morning 

On Monday, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to put a ‘complete siege’ on Gaza in retaliation for the surprise attack launched by Hamas over the weekend.

Among those believed to be kidnapped from the festival is Ada Sagi, 74. 

Her son Noam told BBC Radio 4: ‘It feels unreal… it feels inhumane… it is very upsetting to think that this is even possible.’ 

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