Bono pays tribute to the 'beautiful kids' killed at Israeli music festival amid brutal Palestine conflict as U2 change lyrics to Pride to honour those killed during Las Vegas show
Bono has paid tribute to the 'beautiful kids' killed at an Israeli music festival over the weekend amid the brutal Palestine conflict.
The singer and activist, 63, joined his U2 bandmates at their latest Las Vegas concert at Sphere on Monday night where he showed his support for those impacted by the war.
On Saturday Hamas fighters attacked 3,500 revellers at the event. So far the bodies of 260 festivalgoers have been recovered at the Re'im kibbutz site.
During the U2 show Bono changed the lyrics to the band's 1984 hit Pride (In the Name of Love) to refer to those killed by Hamas fighters as 'stars of David'.
Before beginning the song Bono said: 'In the light of what's happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence.
![Kind: Bono has paid tribute to the 'beautiful kids' killed at an Israeli music festival over the weekend amid the brutal Palestine conflict](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/10/10/76372447-12613913-image-m-83_1696930132464.jpg)
Kind: Bono has paid tribute to the 'beautiful kids' killed at an Israeli music festival over the weekend amid the brutal Palestine conflict
![Peace: The singer and activist, 63, joined his U2 bandmates at their latest Las Vegas concert at Sphere on Monday night where he showed his support for those impacted by the war](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/10/10/76372441-12613913-image-m-85_1696930161013.jpg)
Peace: The singer and activist, 63, joined his U2 bandmates at their latest Las Vegas concert at Sphere on Monday night where he showed his support for those impacted by the war
'But our hearts and our anger, you know where that's pointed. So sing with us … and those beautiful kids at that music festival.'
During the instrumental Bono added: 'Sing for our brothers and sisters – who they themselves were singing at the Supernova Sukkot festival in Israel.
'We sing for those. Our people, our kind of people, music people. Playful, experimental people. Our kind of people. We sing for them.'
Bono next altered the lyrics as he sang: 'Early morning, October 7, the sun is rising in the desert sky. Stars of David, they took your life but they could not take your pride.'
The original lyrics to the song, which is dedicated to US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, read: 'Early morning, April 4, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky. Free at last, they took your life, they could not take your pride.'
On Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared intentions to obliterate Hamas as he metes out revenge for the deadly surprise attacks by the Palestinian militant group this weekend that saw hundreds of Israelis killed.
Netanyahu, who first came to power in Israel in 1996 and has served three separate terms, compared Hamas to the Islamic State group and said Israel planned to deploy 'unprecedented force' that would 'reverberate for generations'.
'We have only started striking Hamas,' Netanyahu, 73, said in a nationally televised address late last night.
![Terrible: On Saturday Hamas fighters attacked 3,500 revellers at the event. So far the bodies of 260 festivalgoers have been recovered at the Re'im kibbutz site](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/10/10/76372435-12613913-image-m-89_1696930280925.jpg)
Terrible: On Saturday Hamas fighters attacked 3,500 revellers at the event. So far the bodies of 260 festivalgoers have been recovered at the Re'im kibbutz site
![Altered: During the U2 show Bono changed the lyrics to the band's 1984 hit Pride (In the Name of Love) to refer to those killed by Hamas fighters as 'stars of David'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/10/10/76372437-12613913-image-m-91_1696930294273.jpg)
Altered: During the U2 show Bono changed the lyrics to the band's 1984 hit Pride (In the Name of Love) to refer to those killed by Hamas fighters as 'stars of David'
![Words: Before beginning the song Bono said: 'In the light of what's happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/10/10/76372779-12613913-image-a-92_1696930369595.jpg)
Words: Before beginning the song Bono said: 'In the light of what's happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence'
'What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.
'Hamas terrorists bound, burned and executed children. They are savages. Hamas is ISIS,' Netanyahu concluded.
Thousands of Hamas targets have been wiped out in brutal aerial bombing campaigns, Israeli defence officials claimed, but harrowing clips circulating social media showed how the rockets and bombs also obliterated Palestinian residential blocks, killing hundreds of civilians.
Military spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters on Tuesday that the bodies of some 1,500 Hamas militants had been found around the Gaza border following strikes, adding that security forces had 'more or less restored control over the border' with Gaza.
Israel also ordered a 'complete siege' of Gaza, cutting off electricity, fuel and food for the 2.3 million Palestinians who for the most part were already living in abject poverty.
The four-day-old war has already claimed at least 1,600 lives, as Israel saw gun battles in the streets of its own towns for the first time in decades and neighbourhoods in Gaza were reduced to rubble.
In a response to the savage aerial bombardment of Gaza, Hamas warned late last night it would begin executing Israeli civilian captives.
'Every targeting of our people without warning will be met with the execution of one of the civilian hostages,' Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement.
Hamas militants abducted up to 150 people, including women and children, from Israeli territory and dragged them back in Gaza amid their ruthless slaughter.
'We have decided to put an end to this and as of now, we declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of one the hostages of civilians we are holding,' Abu Obaida, spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, later added in a recording released to Al Jazeera.
On Tuesday morning, air raid sirens were blaring in cities across Israel, suggesting Hamas was launching another salvo of rockets.
Israel and Hamas have had repeated conflicts in past years, often sparked by tensions around a Jerusalem holy site.
![Support: During the instrumental Bono added: 'Sing for our brothers and sisters ¿ who they themselves were singing at the Supernova Sukkot festival in Israel'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/10/10/76372825-12613913-image-a-99_1696930700741.jpg)
Support: During the instrumental Bono added: 'Sing for our brothers and sisters – who they themselves were singing at the Supernova Sukkot festival in Israel'
![Violence: A fireball is pictured erupting from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 9](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/10/10/76367377-12613913-A_fireball_erupts_from_an_Israeli_airstrike_in_Gaza_City_on_Octo-a-95_1696930440314.jpg)
Violence: A fireball is pictured erupting from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 9
![Shock: Hamas militants abducted up to 150 people, including women and children, from Israeli territory and dragged them back in Gaza amid their ruthless slaughter](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/10/10/10/76329301-12613913-Hamas_militants_abducted_up_to_150_people_including_women_and_ch-a-96_1696930443187.jpg)
Shock: Hamas militants abducted up to 150 people, including women and children, from Israeli territory and dragged them back in Gaza amid their ruthless slaughter
But this time, the context has become more explosive.
The surprise weekend attack by Hamas left a death toll unseen since the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria, fomenting calls for Israel to crush Hamas no matter the cost, rather than continuing to try to bottle it up in Gaza.
Israel is run by its most hard-right government ever, dominated by ministers who adamantly reject Palestinian statehood.
Hamas, in turn, says it is ready for a long battle to end an Israeli occupation it says is no longer tolerable. Desperation has grown among Palestinians, many of whom see nothing to lose under unending Israeli control and increasing settler depredations in the West Bank, the blockade in Gaza and what they see as the world's apathy.