'Saw Murder, Kidnappings, But Hardest Of Them All Was...': Supernova Survivor Reveals She Witnessed Rape On Oct 7

Hundreds gathered at the site of the Supernova festival on Monday to remember the 364 people who were killed and 60 others taken hostage by Hamas exactly one year ago.

Families and relatives of those killed or abducted during the October 7 attack on Israel gathered in Tel Aviv, where images of victims were flashed on screens. The ceremony was broadcast live and interspersed with pre-recorded video clips of relatives telling the tragic stories of their deaths.

‘Screams for help’

In a video broadcast at the event, Yuval Sharvit Trabelsi, who survived the Nova massacre, revealed for the first time that she witnessed rape while trying to evade Hamas terrorists. “We saw murder, kidnappings, but the hardest of them all was rape,” she was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post.

“I have never heard screams for help like the ones I heard from that woman.” Trabelsi went on to recount how she smeared herself with her husband’s blood so that the terrorists would think she was dead. In all, more than 360 people were killed at the Nova festival.

The event in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park served as an alternative to the official government ceremony, with participating families hoping to avoid being embroiled in divisive Israeli politics as they marked the sombre anniversary. The theme of the event was unity, with relatives of the country’s Jewish, Arab, and Druze communities along with a mix of civilians and soldiers speaking about those who were killed.

October 7 Attack

The Tel Aviv ceremony took place in Israel’s largest concert venue, where event planners had handed out some 40,000 tickets for the commemoration.

However, amid a flurry of missile and rocket attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting Israel, the ceremony was restricted to family members and media only. Around the country, small groups of Israelis gathered to watch the ceremony live on large screens in parks, schools and community centres instead.

‘Will continue to fight.’

The official government event aired shortly after the Tel Aviv ceremony wrapped, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to press on fighting until achieving the “sacred mission” of the war against Hamas. “As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country, we will continue to fight. As long as our hostages are still in Gaza, we will continue to fight,” said Netanyahu in a televised address.

The ceremonies capped a day of memorials that began at 6:29 am local time with a minute’s silence at the site of the Nova Festival, where the largest number of people — an estimated 370 — were killed. In nearby communities, which were also attacked when hundreds of Hamas militants broke through the Gaza border fence, smaller commemoration events were held.

Participants remembered those who were killed or taken hostage, including some who are still being held captive in Gaza a year later. Hamas’s attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, sparked a full-scale war in Gaza that continues today. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,909 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Palestinian territory’s health ministry.

(With agency inputs)