October 7 > Nova Festival > Testimony of Adi B
This is the day that will accompany me for my entire life.
My friend and I decided to drive and join other friends at a party in the south. We depart from Kiryat Shmona and reach the south, near Sderot and the surrounding kibbutzim. I get a bad feeling in my stomach. I tell my friend, 'Listen, I have a bad feeling. I hope nothing chaotic happens.' He says to me, 'Forget about it. We came to enjoy today. Don't think about it.' I say to myself, 'Okay, disconnect from these thoughts. You are already here. Enjoy.'
We arrive at the party, truly everything is a good atmosphere. Everyone is happy and dancing. It's about 5:30 in the morning, and my friend with me says, 'Adi, what's with you? Relax, enjoy, be with me in the moment.' But I feel something isn't right. I tell him, 'I don't know, something doesn't feel good to me.' Not an hour passes, and we enter a nightmare.
At 6:30 in the morning, the movie of my life starts. We are bombarded endlessly. My friend begins to panic, running from place to place. I try to calm him down and say that everything is fine. Because really, until now everything was fine. What are missiles for us? We are from Kiryat Shmona, and we've experienced this.
We begin to walk toward the exit, searching for the car. I look at the sky, and I see dozens of drones above our heads. They're distant but getting closer. I tell myself, 'It's probably Israeli drones. There are missiles, they surely want to land in an open area.'
"Before we even finish the sentence, armed trucks filled with a lot of terrorists start shooting at us"
We find the car and get in. I start to hear bursts of gunfire. I still don't quite understand the situation. I begin driving toward the exit. Everyone is abandoning their cars; people are running everywhere. I managed to get to the main road. A policeman stands there and tells me, 'Go right. There's no left.' I tell him, 'My GPS shows left. I need to go to Kiryat Shmona.' He insists and says, 'Buddy, there's no left. Go right.'
I turn right, drive about 700 meters, and then the GPS tells me to make a U-turn. I see overturned cars, and people on the ground, and still don't fully understand. Until the car I'm following stops, the driver's door opens, and the driver simply falls out onto the road with a bullet in his head. At that moment, my friend lost it in the car and told me, 'Keep driving!' I shout at him and say, 'Be calm! Let me understand the situation!' Of course, all this feels like an eternity.
A guy jumps into my car, asking for help. He's bleeding and screams about terrorists. I open the window. I and another guy in a car next to me consult and say we need to help him. Before we even finish the sentence, armed trucks filled with a lot of terrorists start shooting at us from every direction. I manage to make a U-turn and begin speeding away.
During the drive, we're shot at, and we encounter terrorists everywhere. We miraculously managed to pass through this range. At that moment, I entered my family's group chat, writing, 'I love you all. I'm sorry.' But I immediately deleted it without sending it because they don't know I'm here, and there's no way I'm doing this to them. I tell myself there's no chance you're giving up to those you hate the most. You won't let them kill you. I began to understand that I must take control of the situation. In the meantime, I sent a message to a group of friends.
"I try to tell him there are terrorists. He says to me, 'I know. We are running. You run too'"
I stop near a bomb shelter. I called a friend of mine who I saw was panicked when the missiles started. I need her and her boyfriend to come with me. I call, and he answers. I try to tell him there are terrorists. He says to me, 'I know. We are running. You run too.' He hangs up the call, and I simply drive on. I know that if I exit the car, I need to worry only about myself because my friend isn't coherent, and in one second, I could lose him. I tell myself there's no chance, you keep driving.
I entered a kibbutz that was nearby, but the gate was closed, no entry. I exit and start driving. Meanwhile, cars coming from the opposite direction try to stop me and say not to continue driving because there are terrorists in that direction too. But all the bomb shelters are full of people. I continue driving, and by the grace of God, the King of Kings, I manage to pass through this range.
I reach Netivot, hide for about an hour until my friend who lives there answers me, and I continue driving to him. But from there, the story doesn't end. Even there, we get into chaos. But thank God, we are here to tell. What happened to us is a miracle. There's no other way to explain it. I'm alive, and it's not obvious. I want the whole world to know we went through a Holocaust. There's no other way to describe it, and no one will tell me stories that, in the end, we'll triumph because we lost. We suffered a devastating loss. Our brothers and sisters were murdered and kidnapped. Our soul was murdered.
The only way we might forgive those above who abandoned us is if the city of Nova rises in place of this ruin called Gaza.
Appreciate life, love life, forgive, pardon, and tell those around you that you love them all the time. Give thanks.
Adi B.