On October 6, 2023, right before the October 7 massacre, Shlomi Ziv, his wife's cousins Aviv Eliyahu and his younger brother Yannai went south to the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re'im. Shlomi, who worked in security for the party, went to work together with Aviv, the security director for Nova. Aviv was murdered, Shlomi was kidnapped and Yannai survived. A year later the two men returned to the field of horrors.
Yannai came to the festivalhang out with friends. All three relatives who grew up together were in daily contact and involved in each other's lives. The Hamas attack on the Western Negev that began on October 7 at 6:29 a.m. brutally separated the three. Aviv was killed by Hamas terrorists. Shlomi was kidnapped to Gaza and was rescued in August in Operation Arnon. Yannai managed to hide and escape from the carnage.
3 View gallery
The rescued hostages from Operation Arnon
(Photo: REUTERS/Marko Djurica, Maayan Tuaf/ GPO, IDF Spokeperson's Unit)
Friday marked Yannai's 24th birthday and, for the first time since the October 7 massacre, the two surviving relatives managed to put the past behind them. Yannai asked Shlomi to join him at the party to celebrate with him. Despite the difficult scenery and the accompanying memories, this time they celebrated life and the fact that they returned safely home.
"On Thursday and Friday before the party, it was difficult for me," Shlomi, 40, told Ynet. "The whole situation took me back there. To travel to the south again, to return to the party again. But it was important to get closure. Both for me personally and for Yannai, to be truly happy with him, so he would enjoy himself, and also to commemorate Aviv with dance and joy. It was amazing."
Did you manage to dance and feel happy?
"Yes, very much. There were other freed people there and more survivors from that horrible Saturday. Maybe they also wanted to achieve closure. I kept looking at the clock. I wanted to pass 6:29 a.m. without sirens and without all the bad things that happened. The original producers of the Nova festival organized the party. They are doing amazing things as part of the commemoration efforts."
Miran, Shlomi's wife, added, "Yannai is like our little brother. He is my favorite. He was in the third grade when we got married and I always told him that I would bring down the moon for him. He came to the Nova party last year on Friday night, a day after Shlomi and Aviv. Amid all the unfolding events, he hid and took care of the wounded. He tried to contact Aviv who told him to go to a trailer."
"In retrospect, Yannai was already on the escape route so it's a good thing because the whole area was attacked and he might not have survived. At some point, Aviv stopped answering him and he passed out. He realized that something very bad had happened. He jumped into a car together with friends and they drove toward a base. When they shot at them, they changed direction and managed to reach Netivot," she added.
How did you feel when they went to the party, again?
"I was worried, it set me back. But I took a breath and calmed down. I said to myself, let them go, have fun, let them get it out of their system. I trust Shlomi completely. I understood him and supported him. The photo of Shlomi and Yannai is one of our great victory photos. They passed 6:29 a.m. and saw the sunrise that they couldn't see a year ago," Miran said.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: