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Tempers flared and cries of anguish echoed outside the hall where the Israeli military on Wednesday began presenting its long-awaited findings on the Nova music festival massacre. Bereaved families, relatives of hostages and survivors confronted top officers, accusing the army of failing to protect civilians and attempting to conceal its role in one of the deadliest attacks in Israeli history.
“For two and a half hours we’ve been here, and we’ve received no answers!” a mother sobbed. “They’re putting on a show for the media.” Another family shouted, “They’re making a movie here. We’ve been waiting a year and a half for this — and this is what we get?”
The presentation, led by Brig. Gen. (res.) Ido Mizrahi and Maj. Gen. Dan Goldfus, was the first time the Israel Defense Forces publicly shared its internal investigation into the events of October 7, when Hamas terrorists stormed the outdoor music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. The attack killed 364 civilians, wounded hundreds more, and resulted in the abduction of 44 people. Many of the hostages were later released as part of deals between Israel and Hamas.
The findings presented focused narrowly on the process by which the festival was approved, the sequence of events on the morning of the massacre, and the actions of security forces in and around the festival grounds and the Re’im parking lot. The report did not address the broader attacks that unfolded outside the Nova site, including ambushes on roads and mass killings in roadside shelters, where dozens more civilians were murdered. The military said investigations into those incidents are still ongoing.
Goldfus opened the briefing with an admission of fault, saying, “We were wrong. We did not grasp the magnitude of what occurred.” His remarks did little to calm the crowd.
“My daughter went into a shelter like you told her—and you didn’t save her!” shouted Anat, a bereaved mother. “All you care about is hiding how badly the IDF failed.”
Ofir Dor, whose son Idan was killed at the festival, called the briefing “a nice slideshow that does nothing for the parents.” He said: “This is the first time someone from the IDF is even speaking to us. My son was killed by an RPG, and the army says ‘we failed.’ But how do you fail like that and still have no answers?”
Dor called for a national commission of inquiry, saying, “The truth won’t come from here. We’ll only get it from an official investigation — and I don’t care what they call it. People should be in prison. The blood of our children is on the hands of the security leadership.”
Eli Savidia, whose son Shlomi and his son’s partner were killed in the attack, said the families were angry and confused. “I still don’t know where my son was killed or where his body was found. We want answers. Why did it take a year and a half to deliver this report? Where were the army and air force that morning?”
Hadas Ganis, whose brother Sefi was killed in one of the shelters after he escaped the festival, said families had arrived with hope but were left devastated. “There was a lot of justified anger, a lot of frustration,” she said. “We’re two hours in and I don’t feel like I’ve gotten any answers. I was told we’d receive them at the end, but so far, nothing.”
She said phones were taken from attendees at the start of the briefing. At one point, a mother ran to the stage with a photograph of her son’s body and demanded that it be shown in the presentation.
Ganis added that officials had promised to remain on-site “until the night, if necessary,” to answer questions. “We’re asking where the army was. My brother sent a message from the shelter: ‘Where is the police? Where is the army?’ It feels like they were abandoned.”
Yoram Yehudai, whose son Ron was killed while hiding in a container at the festival, said his son remained in hiding for nearly five hours before being murdered. “There was time to save him. I want responsibility taken. I want to know what happened the night before, when intelligence first suggested something was coming. I don’t want theories. I want answers.”
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Yehudai also criticized far-right lawmaker Simcha Rothman for an April 1 social media post jokingly declaring it “Democracy Remembrance Day.” “You don’t joke like that. Not when families are bleeding. That kind of detachment is cruelty.”
A report from the U.N. envoy on sexual violence in conflict, published in March, cited circumstantial evidence of rape, mutilation, and abuse of corpses by Hamas terrorists at the festival and nearby roads. The IDF has said it is reviewing those findings.
While military officials promised to answer every question, many families left the briefing saying they still felt abandoned, unheard, and angry. “We live in pain,” said Dor. “And we want the truth.”