Lior Asulin plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv at the UEFA Cup in 2007.Photo:Ariel Schalit/AP Photo

Hapoel Tel Aviv’s Lior Asulin, front, vies for the ball with AIK Solna’s Jimmy Tamadi during their UEFA Cup first round first leg soccer match at Bloomfield stadium in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Sep. 20, 2007

Ariel Schalit/AP Photo

A retired Israeli soccer player was among those confirmed dead after an attack on a musical festival on Saturday,The Times of Israelreports.

Hamas, a militant Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip, launcheda series of attacks on Israel on Saturday, including on a group of festival goers gathered near the border of Israel and Gaza.

Several Hamas gunmen fired on the crowd and Lior Asulin was among those killed, his former soccer team confirmed.

Asulin was missing for several hours following the attack, Hapoel Tel Aviv FC said in apostshared on X (formerly known as Twitter), but was later pronounced dead.

Lior Asulin kisses trophy after winning the State Cup final with Bnei Sakhnin against Hapoel Haifa in 2004.Uriel Sinai/Getty

Bnei Sakhnin’s player Lior Asulin kisses the trophy after their historic match against Hapoel Haifa in the State Cup final at the National Stadium May 18, 2004 in Ramat Gan, Israel.

Uriel Sinai/Getty

The total death toll from festival goers was estimated at 260 on Monday, theAssociated Pressreported, making the Tribe of Nova festival the worst civilian massacre in Israeli history.

Communities in the areas surrounding the festival grounds also came under attack, as Hamas militants abducted and killed civilians, including women, children, elderly and disabled people, according to AP.

Of the attack, one of the festival volunteers, Maya Alper, told AP: “I can’t even explain the energy they (the militants) had, it was so clear they didn’t see us as human beings,” adding, “They looked at us with pure, pure hate.”

Arik Nani, a 26-year-old who’d gone to the festival to celebrate his birthday, told the outlet, “We were hiding and running, hiding and running, in an open field, the worst place you could possibly be in that situation.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

As of Monday, the death toll on both sides of the conflict had risen substantially. According to theIsrael Defense Forces(IDF), more than 700 Israelis had been killed and 2,150 injured since Saturday.

In the Gaza Strip, the death toll reached 560 according to the latest update from thePalestinian Ministry of Health. Beyond those killed on their side, 2,900 individuals have also been injured as a result of the conflict.

source: people.com