Of all the October 7 horrors, the massacre at the Nova music festival stands out in its scale, cruelty and its perpetrators’ inhumanity. That morning’s music festival site and its surrounding areas through which the partygoers tried to flee endured one of history’s most deadly terrorist attacks.
Three hundred and eighty-three people were murdered, 44 were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip and hundreds were wounded. This is Nova survivor, 23-year-old Danielle Gelbaum’s story.
“I’d returned from my big trip to South America three weeks before Nova. I traveled to the festival with my elder sister Lior and friends. We started feeling tired at 5:30, so we went to where the tent was and my sister went to sleep in the tent. The music stopped at 6:29 and Red Alert sirens went off.”
“A few minutes later, we were all told to pack up and leave, so we got into the car and started driving toward the exit. We got onto Route 232 and were about to turn left to Kibbutz Be’eri. We had no idea there were terrorists around. After driving for a few minutes, we saw cars turning back but didn’t understand what was going on. We also turned around.
"A few minutes later, we saw cars just stopping in the middle of the road and people running out. When we got out of the car, I heard the first gunshots. My sister looked at me and asked, 'Dani, is that what gunfire sounds like?'
“We saw people running and we started running with them. Someone, presumably from the security detail, was standing on a mound shouting to everyone, “Run east, run toward the sun.” This is one of the things that saved us. We saw a big black vehicle driving toward us, so we stopped it and asked to get in. It was two guys from the rave. I’ve no idea how they survived. We drove for a few minutes and again reached a dead end: the fields were all plowed up and cars just couldn't get through.”
"I clearly remember seeing a girl standing outside the truck signaling us to help her, and we just couldn’t. The gunfire wasn’t letting up and we knew that if we were to stop now, that would be the end for everyone in the truck. To this day, I don’t know what happened to her. I eat myself away inside over this. It will be with me forever.”
“When we got out of the car, I realized the scale of what was going on. Nearby, I saw hundreds of people running in every direction, and every few seconds, someone would fall. I looked the other way and saw a terrorist in a green shirt walking calmly and two meters in front of him, I saw someone in a black T-shirt run and fall to the ground. He managed to get up, took another couple of steps and then just collapsed to the ground again. I’ll never forget that scene. This was when we realized how close it was. We saw the terrorists with our own eyes. They were here.”
“In the distance, I saw a pickup truck driving toward us. It was the couple we’d come to the festival with. They saved our lives.
There were around 16 of us there, lying on top of each other in the back of the pickup truck. We drove through an orchard with shots being fired behind us, and dozens of people were running into the orchard. I clearly remember seeing a girl standing outside the truck signaling us to help her, and we just couldn’t. The gunfire wasn’t letting up and we knew that if we were to stop now, that would be the end for everyone in the truck. To this day, I don’t know what happened to her. I eat myself away inside over this. It will be with me forever.”
“We got to the police station in Netivot where we stayed until nightfall. On our way home, I texted my officer and told her I was on my way back and that I needed to be in the army right now. Throughout my two months of reserve duty, I didn’t understand what I’d been through. I remember my first panic attack after reserve duty: I was in a traffic jam on my way back from Tel Aviv with two friends when my whole body started shaking.
"My heart was pounding. I thought about how this was how it started last time around, and that the massacre was happening again. It was very hard. I then started having nightmares about terrorists, and images started resurfacing along with survivor guilt. What could I have done differently? I realized I needed to start taking care of myself.”
“Yes, it’s been hard, but I’ve started dancing again. Every time I take to the dancefloor, I’m overcome by a range of emotions: Joy that I’m here, along with the pain for those who aren't. I get triggers at every rave. Each and every party means dealing with it again. By we won’t stop dancing. If we stop dancing, they'll have won. They’ve beaten us in so many ways and this isn’t going to be one of them.”
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