NORTHFIELD, Ill. (CBS) — Monday marked one year after the Hamas attack at the Nova Music Festival in Israel, which was part of a larger attack that sparked it the ongoing war in Gaza.
Hundreds of people were killed in that attack. Dozens of others were kidnapped and held hostage.
A 24-year-old woman who survived the horror was recently in the Chicago area to share her story.
“I feel like we’re still living in the same day,” Amit Ganish said.
She was just about to go to sleep after a night of music and dancing when she heard and saw rockets, then gunshots.
The law student and her best friend crammed into a stranger’s car with eight other people. As terrorists fired in their direction, they reached a nearby forest where they hid.
“I heard a lot of things and I saw a lot of terrorists in my eyes,” Ganish said. “I hid under a bush for nine hours because I was surrounded by terrorists.”
They were eventually found by an Israeli news team. A year later, Ganish still struggles to accept her new normal, but says it has made her stronger.
“When I see the girl that was there on October 7 and I see me today, it’s not, it’s not the same person at all,” Ganish said. “I think all people in Israel are not the same. We are not as happy as we used to be. We still are. I still go to parties and festivals, but it is not the same. Not you.” I don’t feel free.”
Ganish now travels the world sharing her story.
“At one point I promised myself that I was going to stay alive and do what I had to do,” she told an audience.
When CBS News Chicago met Ganish last monthshe spoke at Temple Jeremiah in Northfield.
“I want people to know what really happened there. That’s why I’m here,” Ganish said.
She added: “I feel like I’m the voice for a lot of people. I’m the voice because they can’t speak, so I’ll speak for them because I survived this. I don’t know how, but God has saved them.” me.”
Ganish’s best friend’s boyfriend died on October 7. She said she had little hope that day, but now she has found that hope and wants to give it to others.
