Friends, family members and other loved ones gathered this morning at the site of the Nova music festival in Re’im, in Israel’s Negev region, where Hamas militants killed an estimated 364 people as they stormed into Israel on this day a year ago.
The festival grounds had some of the usual accoutrements, including stacks of loudspeakers and an area where DJs would otherwise use digital turntables and a sound mixer to play trance music. But this event was solemn, filled with a low hum of voices as people remembered those who lost their lives.
Photos of victims were presented on the edge of a stage used by the event’s speakers, who addressed their memories and sorrow in Hebrew. One man wept as he read from a sheet of paper and spoke into a microphone.
Those gathered stood or sat in white plastic chairs, swaying and singing along to music played between the times when people took the stage to offer words about the fallen.
Hamas militants stormed the southern region of Israel on Oct. 7 last year and came across the festival, still aglow from the night before. Terrorists streamed into the venue and its parking lot, part of the surprise attacks that ended with more than 1,200 people — mostly civilians — killed, 251 kidnapped and a war between Israel and Hamas that has killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza.
Partygoers in neon tops and summer-style light clothing were taken off guard and fled in panic. Organizers of the anniversary event said the music stopped at 6:29 a.m. local time.
Among the hostages taken from the festival was Noa Argamani, 26, who screamed and pleaded after she was put on the back of a motorcycle by militants and taken away, as depicted on cellphone video.
She became the face of the festival’s tragedy and hope and, after her rescue by Israeli forces on June 8, has spoken out about the need to free the remaining hostages still believed to be in Gaza.