Return to Re’im: Hostages’ Families Visit Nova Festival Site 91 Days After Oct. 7 Massacre
“I can’t switch days. I can’t turn the page or start the new year. Today, for us, it’s the 91st of October," says hostage's sister as journalists tour festival grounds where 364 people were slaughtered and over 40 were taken hostage
It’s early in the morning at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquarters in Tel Aviv. Journalists from around the world walk past the faces of hostages peering out from the many posters and banners to board one of a number of buses waiting to ferry them to southern Israel. They are heading to the Nova festival grounds near Kibbutz Re’im close to the Gaza border, where Hamas terrorists launched a murderous attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
On board one bus, the journalists discuss politics and theories about the Israeli military’s failure to detect the Hamas threat ahead of time and its failure to spring into action more quickly after the attack began. Those same topics have been debated by Israelis around dinner tables and on TV news programs since Oct. 7.
The visit to Re’im is being held at the invitation of the Families Forum to remind the world why the war in Gaza began in the first place. Rescuing the many hostages kidnapped into Gaza by Hamas is one of the war’s two stated goals; the other is to destroy Hamas’ capabilities.
Over 240 people were abducted into Gaza on Oct. 7, including many children and elderly people. Since then, 110 have been released (including one hostage who was rescued by Israeli forces), but officially there are still 136 hostages in Gaza. That number includes two civilians and two dead soldiers who have been held in Gaza since 2014-2015. Of the 132 hostages taken on Oct. 7 and still held in Gaza, at least 25 are known to be dead.
“The testimony of the hostages who came back leaves no room for doubt. Every day, every minute is a danger to their lives,” Liat Bell-Sommer, the spokesperson for the Families Forum HQ, told The Media Line.
“There are 136 hostages in Gaza; 136 coffins is no victory. They’re alive, and they must be kept alive,” she said.
The buses arrive in Re’im to the sound of electronic trance music in a small recreation of the Nova dance festival grounds. But the party atmosphere is secondary to the jarring reality: the presence of numerous soldiers, the sounds of artillery fire and military helicopters from nearby Gaza, and the members of the Families Forum in their signature shirts. Many still have family members in Hamas captivity; some are themselves escapees and survivors of the Hamas massacres, and some are returning for the first time since the attacks.
On Oct. 7, 364 innocent civilians were killed at the Nova festival, and over 40 festivalgoers were taken hostage. The site feels like hallowed ground.
Large portraits of the hostages are displayed across the grounds, interspersed with makeshift monuments and memorials to some of those who were murdered. Their smiling faces greet visitors as short clips from the day play on a big screen in the background.
Posters for the murdered and hostages at the Nova festival site. (Aaron Poris/The Media Line)
The visit takes place on the 91st day of captivity for the hostages. Many are known to have been badly injured, starved, abused, and mutilated.
Walking through the forest of pictures and tributes to those who were taken captive or slaughtered in this very place, it is hard to feel that this was the site of a party where the Families Forum’s message is “we will dance again.”
The cloudy gray morning gives way to a blue sky, bringing with it thoughts of the beautiful Mediterranean weather that graced that terrible day, Oct. 7, which would later be termed “Black Sabbath,” when some 1,200 people in over 20 communities in southern Israel were slaughtered, many after being raped, brutalized, and maimed.
Of the 1,200 victims, 900 were civilians, including many children. The Nova party, where so many young people were massacred, was meant to symbolize hope for a peaceful future.
At the memorial site, between short biopic films on the stage, Families Forum volunteers address the crowd, providing short recollections of their experiences of that fateful day.
Michael Levy speaks of his brother, Or Levy, and Or’s wife, Einav, two young parents who had arrived at the Nova festival at 6:20 that morning, just before hell broke out.
Einav was murdered that day and Or was taken hostage. Their 2-year-old son, Almog, is now in his uncle Michael’s care. Michael says that Or’s last words before his capture came in a call to their mother: “Mom, you don’t want to know what’s happening here.”
Yarden Gonen, whose 21-year-old sister Romi is also still in captivity, speaks next, pleading for the world to put itself in her sister’s shoes, particularly given the testimonies of sexual assaults and gender-based violence.
Romi was shot and injured, and saw her best friends murdered.
“Every time I eat, I feel guilty, because I don’t know when Romi last ate,” Yarden says. “Every time I go to the bathroom or shower, I’m nauseated, thinking, does my sister get any sort of privacy? Or even there, are people watching her change clothes … getting undressed?”
Yarden Gonen speaks about her abducted sister at the Nova festival site. (Aaron Poris/The Media Line)
“I’m still stuck on Oct. 7, maybe the 8th,” Yarden continues. “I can’t switch days, I can’t turn the page, or start the new year. Today, for us, it’s the 91st of October. … Don’t turn your backs on my sister and the other captives.”
As she speaks, one can hear a pin drop. Of the 90 women taken captive on Oct. 7, 15 are still in Gaza today.
Speaking next, Gal Gilboa-Dalal recounts his story of escaping the Nova massacre. He learned from Hamas’ GoPro footage that his brother, Guy, was taken hostage from the festival and that three of their friends were killed.
It is Gal’s first time back in Re’im since that day, and his pain—maybe even survivor’s guilt—is visible.
For Amit Shem-Tov, whose brother, Omer, was also kidnapped by Hamas, this event is also his first time back at the site.
Amit Shem-Tov. (Aaron Poris/The Media Line)
“It’s truly chilling and unbelievable to see the place like this,” he tells The Media Line. “Ninety-one days ago, this place was a place of joy and life and a party. But now, we see memorials of dead people and the hostages’ faces … and it’s hard to see. It’s hard to believe.”
Omer Shem-Tov was kidnapped alongside his friends Ori Danino and siblings Maya and Itai Regev. The Regev siblings were freed in November’s hostage release deal. However, Omer and Ori remain in Gaza.
Amit says that he and his family practically watched their capture as it happened.
My brother is literally right there … so close, just 5 kilometers. But I can’t reach him or help him. This is the closest I’ve been to him since [the attack].
After the Hamas attack began, Omer’s family asked him to activate his live location so they could keep tabs on his movements. When his phone started moving in the direction of Gaza and Omer stopped answering calls, his family knew that something was horribly wrong.
Pointing towards Gaza, Amit says incredulously, “My brother is literally right there … so close, just 5 kilometers. But I can’t reach him or help him. This is the closest I’ve been to him since [the attack].”
Amit and released hostage Itai Regev both speak to the gathering about the difficult conditions in captivity.
Visibly uncomfortable and keeping his words brief, Itai recounts how he spent 54 days in captivity with his friend Omer Shem-Tov.
“Every day [as a hostage] is an eternity. The conditions are very difficult to survive. The hostages cannot stay there for one more second. They must be returned home now,” he says.
Amit says that his brother has celiac disease and asthma.
“He doesn’t have his inhaler, and I imagine they [Hamas] give him bread and pita to eat. So, he eats because he must, to survive. But it gives him terrible pain later on,” he says.
We need your help to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages, or at least let the Red Cross treat them
The families continuously emphasize the urgency of the hostages’ plight and pressure the Israeli government, the international community, and the Red Cross to take action.
“We need your help to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages, or at least let the Red Cross treat them,” says Gal Gilboa-Dalal.
Amit Shem-Tov says his father took Omer’s asthma inhaler to a meeting with the Red Cross and slammed it on the table in frustration, saying, “I don’t know what the address in Gaza is … but do your job. Here’s his inhaler. Take it to him.”
Co-founder of the Families Forum Asaf Pozniak tells The Media Line, “If they [the Red Cross] can’t treat the hostages, then they shouldn’t exist.”
He also urges Israel to come up with a concrete plan to save the hostages.
Asaf Pozniak. (Aaron Poris/The Media Line)
Pozniak’s soft-spoken and quiet nature belies his determination. He co-founded the Families Forum within days of the attack, when he and his family, like thousands of others, were still desperately searching for their loved ones.
Pozniak’s brother’s sisters-in-law, Hodaya and Tair David, were both found murdered less than a week after Oct. 7. Their bodies had been burned and left in the forest near the Nova festival grounds.
Pozniak continues to fight for those who still have hope.
“In June I got married, and Hodaya and Tair celebrated with me and my wife at our wedding. I dreamed that Hodaya and Tair would come home, and we would celebrate their weddings one day,” he tells The Media Line.
“Unfortunately, that dream vanished. But we can still help 136 hostages who were kidnapped and who are held by Hamas in Gaza. … We would like to hear an Israeli proposal and initiative to save all the hostages in Gaza … not just a response to [Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya] Sinwar’s attacks or initiatives.”
In Re’im for the first time himself, along with his brother and in-laws, Pozniak describes it as the site of a personal second Holocaust, adding that Hamas is a danger to the whole world.
“The world must never forget what happened here and in the kibbutzim in the south of Israel. Hamas is ISIS, and it is not just a danger to Israel,” he says.
Whether the government and the world can meet the Families Forum’s demands remains an open question. In the meantime, the hostages’ families can only add yet another day to that terrible endless October.
