in Israel, the families of the victims of the Nova Festival gathered on site for a tribute

On October 7, 2023, 364 festival-goers were murdered in southern Israel by Hamas terrorists.

It was a chilling moment: at 6:29 a.m., on October 7, 2024, the last track broadcast at the Nova Festival, in Réïm, in the south of the country resonated, like a year before. Then the music stopped to mark the arrival of the Hamas commandos. A stunning silence giving way to tears, screams… Those of the families of the victims, of the survivors too.

A year after the Hamas attacks against Israel which left 1,200 dead across the country, and before the tributes followed one another, a moving ceremony was held for the victims’ families at the Nova Festival, in the south of country. Here, 364 festival-goers died out of nearly 4,000 present that day. 22 others were kidnapped.

After this ceremony, some remain in the background like Laurent Bitton, the father of Maya, 22 years old, murdered a year ago. He says he has never felt so bad: “I’m very hurt, I’m heartbroken. It’s not logical to bury your daughter. It’s the world turned upside down. They came to have fun, to dance, to live, the joy of live. It’s not logical what happened. A year has passed, but it will never pass.

Despite the presence of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who in a statement called on the world to “support Israel in its fight against its enemies“, as well as that of the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot, here, it is the families who organized everything.

Kati Zohar is the mother of Bar who was 23 years old: “Today is a very hard day. Since October 7, we have become a big family, all the families of the victims… We want to be together. Here, this is the last time my daughter was alive”she slips. For his part, Eran Berenstein lost his 23-year-old son: “It’s difficult for me to be in front of this memorial, this music… I prefer to remember my son.”

Very close, the bombings of the Israeli army in Gaza made Morcha flinch. She has been dealing with grief for a year. Three of his friends died here.

“I’m very anxious, I’m afraid, all these bombs scare me and take me back to October 7. It’s very difficult to be here, but I know it’s also very important to remember and talk of those who have disappeared.”

Morcha, a survivor of the Nova Festival

at franceinfo

The emotion has not subsided: some will stay all day in this desert to remember and bring to life each broken destiny of the Nova Festival.