Revellers were heading into the second day of Supernova Sukkot Gathering when they were attacked at about 6.30am by Hamas militants, writes news reporter Niamh Lynch.
About 260 bodies have been found so far, with many more people still missing.
The two-day festival, which started on Friday, was held in the village of Re’im in southern Israel – in the Negev desert about three miles from the border with the Gaza Strip.
Thousands are believed to have attended the event, with one of the organisers telling Billboard that the festival was moved to Re’im just two days before it was due to start after another site in southern Israel fell through.
It coincided with the end of the seven-day Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
The billing at Supernova mainly featured psychedelic trance artists – a genre of electronic dance music that emerged in the late 90s.
Doors opened at 10pm on Friday with high-profile acts of the genre such as Artifex, Astral Projection and Libra performing across three stages.
The festival also had an area for camping, a bar, food court, and an art space.
British artist Martin Freeland, known as Man With No Name, was also due to perform. Sky News understands he returned to the UK on Monday.
Several of the acts and management were not able to speak to Sky News this afternoon as they were still travelling to escape Israel or had just returned home.
Some had shared Google Doc forms on social media for festivalgoers to register any friends who were missing.
A British man, 26-year-old Jack Marlowe, is missing after the attack. He was working in the security team at the event.
Israeli authorities have said other British citizens had attended the festival.
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