Survivors of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel’s Nova Music Festival reflect on how they made it out alive and talk about recovery after the massacre.
Roy Dray said thousands of people had been partying until the early hours of the morning when the music suddenly stopped and only rockets were heard.
“There were more rockets flying across the sky, dozens more than usual,” said Dray, who was at the venue with a number of friends and his brother.
A cloud of gray smoke obscured the sky, but Roi guessed they were safe. After all, rocket attacks were nothing new.
Dore only realized the seriousness of the attack when Hamas militants approached. “We had to run away from terrorists who were shooting at us,” he said in an interview with Euronews.
He ran through the festival grounds with his brother. They drove through and picked up a third festival goer. “There was no question in my mind. I had no choice but to make it home alive,” said Doray, a 28-year-old from Beersheba.
Three of his friends didn’t pass. They were killed by Hamas during the festival.
“I had a responsibility to my friend’s family. I had to tell them how I got here and that their sons, who had come to the festival with me, were no longer with me,” Dray explained.
in memory of the victims
Tel Aviv resident Ariel Bolok lost her sister Anita and her boyfriend Segev in the Hamas festival attack. Shortly after the violence spread, he lost contact with his sister.
There was no sign of life for days. The family searched local hospitals, and Segev’s father even traveled to the festival site.
“At one point we thought they might have been abducted to Gaza, or maybe they were dead,” Bolock told Euronews. There were only two possibilities for him, and he was very worried. About two days later, he recognized his sister on video.
“In this video, Anita and Segev were seen being shot inside the car,” the 41-year-old said. “I didn’t want to believe it at first, but for the first few months I was just busy with work. I did everything I could not to face it,” the engineer added.
Borock said Anita and Segev are very happy people and staying positive towards them is what keeps him going. He has support from his family and the Nova community.
Euronews met Drei and Bolok at the exhibition “October 7, 6:29 am – The Moment the Music Stopped” at Berlin Tempelhof Airport.
A day earlier, the last 20 living hostages were handed over to Israel after a ceasefire took effect in Gaza.
People were dancing, singing and crying in Tel Aviv. The video of the reunion spread like wildfire on social media. Eleven of the hostages were attending the Nova Music Festival.
“Let’s try to heal ourselves from now on.”
Borock said it was a “very happy day… but it was also a sad day because some people died and came back.”
However, he stressed that this is a critical moment for Israeli society. “It’s October 8th,” Bolok explained, “now we can move forward and try to heal ourselves.”
The return of the hostages was also a special moment for Drey.
“We know how Hamas usually acts, but we never expected a day like this to come,” he said. He added that now he has more space to breathe and focus on the healing process.
Dray said he continues to return to the festival site every two months to observe how the area and its spaces have changed. There are very few leftovers from the festival. It has become “more of a tourist attraction,” he said.
But for him, the place remains the same.
“I know where we pitched our tent, I know where the dance floor was, I know where the toilets were. I can still see the toilets right in front of me when I’m there,” he recalled.
Dray has been telling locals what happened and won’t stop talking about his friends. He wants to do it to keep the memory alive, for their relatives and for himself as well.
In Berlin, most of the festival grounds, including the center stage, are on display at Tempelhof Airport, along with remaining artifacts.
Laundry hangs between the trees, half-filled drinks line the bar, and cell phones are plugged into camp chair charging cables. It’s like festival goers have just returned.
However, upon closer inspection, bullet holes could be seen in the toilet block, and the car in the center of the room had been burnt to the ground. You can hear and watch videos with snapshots, sighting reports, and photos from every corner of the exhibition.
The exhibition has previously been held in Tel Aviv, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Buenos Aires, Toronto, and Washington. He will stay in Berlin until November 16th.
