TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — In the months since a surprise Hamas attack left them scattered across fields or hiding in desert thickets, thousands of survivors of a massacre at a trance festival in Israel have come together as a community to heal.
They have found solace in massage therapy, ice baths, yoga or surfing with the only people who could truly understand what they had been through. And they have built themselves a robust support network as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on and authorities struggle to provide services to devastated communities.
For some, the way back has been through dancing again.
On Thursday, thousands of people attended the Nova Healing Concert in Tel Aviv, the first mass gathering of the Tribe of Nova since the October 7 attack.
“We understood that people needed to be together, and we are a community that takes care of itself,” said Omri Sasa, a founding member of the Tribe of Nova, which organized the festival last October. “I have trauma and I wanted to be with people who have been through this too.”
He was one of about 3,000 people dancing all night in a field just miles from Gaza when rockets lit up the sky at 6:29 a.m. Heavily armed Palestinian militants plundered the festival, killing at least 364 people and taking more than 40 hostages. Many of them are still being held in Gaza.
Hila Fakliro, a communications student who tended bar at the festival, escaped by zigzagging through the fields, hiding and running for more than five hours until she reached the safety of a village about 20 kilometers away. Six of her friends were killed and another three were taken hostage.
“Someone asked me if I could dance again, and at first I said no,” she said. At a January memorial service for one of her friends, she tried to dance, had a panic attack and then tried again. “I was crying and dancing at the same time,” she said.
But after attending events organized by Nova survivors, she was once again able to find solace in the trance music she loves. At a recent event, she slipped into an ice bath while others took yoga and art classes in a cluster of tents.
Omri Kohavi, 35, one of Nova’s founders, said they felt abandoned by Israeli security forces, who took hours to respond to the October 7 attack. Kohavi, now director of community programming for the Nova Foundation, said that within days, organizers realized that “if we don’t take care of ourselves, no one else will.”
Survivors began to gather to process the trauma they had experienced together. On the first day, 500 showed up. That number doubled the next day. After three months, they moved to weekly Community Day events, encouraging survivors to return to their normal lives and jobs.
During these events in Tel Aviv, survivors meet therapists, lawyers, social workers or simply spend time together. The Nova Foundation connects survivors with options for equine therapy, surfing and massage. Some have completed training in peer therapy to help others, and the organization recently began providing support to victims’ families.
Earlier this month, Israel four hostages rescued who were snatched from the festival, which Sasa said was “the greatest gift anyone could imagine.” More than 270 Palestinians were killed in the daytime rescue operation.
Thursday’s rally was aimed at raising money to support the volunteer network and to call for the release of the remaining hostages. To appeal to a wider audience, electronic music and mainstream artists were featured, as well as the Nova mainstay, trance.
“We need a lot of money and the only way we know to raise money is through events,” said Sasa.
Nova provided a separate space at the Nova Healing Concert for survivors and relatives of victims, and two hostages released during a ceasefire in November addressed the crowd. A choir of mothers who lost their children performed.
The war sparked by Hamas’ attack is far from over. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel on October 7, and another 250 were taken hostage. Israel’s massive offensive in Gaza has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which makes no distinction between civilians and fighters. The fear of another all-out war, this time with Hezbollah in Lebanon, keeps people on edge.
Sivan Cohen, 30, said on Thursday ahead of the event that she would “dance for two.” Her partner of six years, Yaniv Sarudi, 26, was killed as she tried to lead a car full of nine festival-goers to safety. Cohen was shot in the leg and initially wasn’t sure she would ever walk again, let alone dance.
“My friends and I have embraced this with both hands and we come every week,” Cohen said of Nova’s Community Days. She said it’s hard to explain to those who weren’t there what it means to be reunited with someone who was in that car or whose injuries she helped treat.
On Thursday, tens of thousands of people danced in the humid June heat, the beat pulsating as the sun set over the Nova stage. Quiet corners for contemplation with mandalas and photos of the victims gave way to a huge party on the center stage.
“The only way to truly remember these people is to live what they lived, which is to dance. That’s what they came here for,” Eyal Porat said as he entered the festival.
Moran Stella Yanai, who was taken from the Nova Festival and held hostage for 54 days, took the stage and invited the audience to close their eyes.
“Imagine, imagine all the hostages standing in a row, holding hands, imagine them being strong, imagine them laughing, imagine their families standing in front of them, imagine the happiness that starts to well up within them,” Yanai said.
“Raise your hands to the sky, high and strong,” she told the crowd. “Open your eyes, believe and dance!”
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