October 7 > Nova Festival > Testimony of Sahar B
I arrived at the party at around 3am, because I knew there were DJs coming from all over the world. It was an international event with approx. 3,000 participants.
As we were walking to the tent to gather our friends, a barrage of rockets began to rain down. Someone stopped the music, and we heard the sirens. Within seconds, we could see the terrorists approaching.
We got into the car and started to flee. It was complete chaos. People were driving at 120kph (75mph), under fire. We could see the terrorists in their trucks, and an armed police officer guided thirty of us into a barricade.
Then they started firing at us, threw a smoke grenade into the barricade, and after a minute, when everyone around me was screaming like crazy, another grenade flew past me, grazing my head. I could see the bodies of the people who had been hit by the grenade behind me. A friend of mine was shot at point blank range. Everyone in the first and second rows was murdered.
I was hit by a bullet in the elbow and shrapnel in my leg and ribs. Luckily, at that moment, the terrorist’s gun jammed and he retreated.
I looked for a weapon on the ground but I heard the firing start up again. I ran to an abandoned police car and called for help on the radio. I was told to run.
I tried and failed to start the car while my friend tried frantically to resuscitate his girlfriend. The terrorists shouted at us, “she’s dead.”
They are animals, animals with murder in their eyes. They massacred us at point blank range. They were shooting at us, and we could see on their faces that they were enjoying it, smiling.
I was evacuated to an ambulance that was waiting for more casualties. They loaded two parents with a child who was severely wounded and an elderly man who lay dying beside me, while I couldn’t even comfort him. Three hours passed in utter chaos.
Sahar B.