We went as a group of 12 to the party but only 9 made it back

My name is Omer B.D., from Moshav Kidron. I survived the horrors of the Nova Festival and I would like to share my story in memory of the friends I have lost. Three of my friends were killed during the event. We went as a group of 12 to the party, but only 9 made it back.

At 6:00 in the morning, I was at the Nova festival. I had just woken up in the festival camping area after a short half-hour nap. I needed some rest to recharge my energy before dancing at sunrise. I was woken up by sudden screams and sounds of rockets. I looked around and tried to make sense of the chaos. My friend Sharon Gordani RIP and I quickly got up and started searching for an exit through the fence that surrounded the party. Sharon managed to pull the fence down, and a wave of people followed us as we ran through the forest. Shortly after, a rocket exploded close to us, forcing us to take cover.

The shelter was filled with screams, blood, and severed limbs from the explosions.

We found a hiding place in the forest. Two other friends that were about 19 years old joined us, and we huddled together as rockets flew over our heads. When a rocket exploded right next to us, Sharon and I decided to run. We sprinted towards the nearest road. As we ran, I sent Daniel G., another friend who was at the party with us, our location so he could pick us up and drive us home. We just wanted to get home safely.

We managed to meet up with him and got into the car. We turned left at the nearest intersection. Not far from us, we saw a police officer directing all the cars to make a U-turn. He warned that there were terrorists with weapons down the road. We turned around and returned to a bomb-shelter we had just passed by to find shelter as there were sirens signaling missiles in our area. At this point, we still didn’t fully grasp the danger and what was going on. We thought the terrorists were on the other side.

We got into the tiny shelter, crowded with dozens of people. I was standing at the entrance of the shelter when suddenly a terrorist threw in a grenade. It was complete chaos and many were injured. There was a police officer outside the shelter who was killed, along with several others. Inside the shelter, we felt two powerful explosions from the grenades that were thrown in, and felt the shockwave through our bodies. The shelter was filled with screams, blood, and severed limbs from the explosions. I got on the phone with my cousin Adi, who was 15 minutes away from arriving to the party and had heard the news. I spoke with her and her mom (my aunt) in a conference call, but they thought I was hallucinating and didn’t believe the situation was real.

We got into the car and drove away, heading toward the fields at a 90-degree angle from the road. Terrorists closed in on both sides as we drove.

At a certain point, my aunt told me to get my friends and run away, and I called out for Daniel and Sharon, but we couldn’t locate Sharon. We screamed at the top of our lungs to try and find him. The shelter was a complete scene of chaos, many people weren’t with us anymore. We were in a surreal horror situation, trying to find Sharon among bodies and mangled limbs. We were facing a surreal dilemma – keep looking for Sharon or flee for our lives.

At the entrance to the shelter, I spotted a bottle of water next to a nearby car, and I grabbed it to clean our faces, which were covered in dust from the grenade explosion. It was then that I realized Daniel had been injured all over his left side. We made a snap decision to dash out of the shelter, doubled over and ran towards Daniel’s car.

We got into the car and drove away, heading toward the fields at a 90-degree angle from the road. Terrorists closed in on both sides as we drove. We drove off the road into fields, and eventually reached the area of Kibbutz Zimrat, where we informed an officer about the situation, and he opened the gate for us. He asked: What happened? Why is he (Daniel) injured? Where are the terrorists?

We drove home on our own, without evacuation or any military or police. I drove us home while Daniel was wounded in the left torso – ten shrapnels throughout the body, a shrapnel under his eye and a bullet near his ankle.

From there we drove to Kibbutz Saad through the fields. Somehow we managed to reach the back gate and the gate was opened for us by two emergency squad members of the Kibbutz. Our vehicle was left behind, and was taken to the main gate of the kibbutz where we saw many more wounded people. There were nonstop rocket sirens and somehow, they led us to Beit Shakma, a nursing center, where an angel named Avishai treated all the wounded. At that time, we could hear an air force helicopter over our heads.

We waited there for hours. There was an armored vehicle which assisted in urgent evacuation of wounded people. We were told we shouldn’t evacuate because a group of terrorists had fired an RPG at the main gate of the Kibbutz and killed several officers who had been there.

After a long wait – about 12 hours, the gate opened and we drove home with some other cars – me, Daniel, and a guy named Noam, who got 2 shots in both legs.

We drove home on our own, without evacuation or any military or police. I drove us home while Daniel was wounded in the left torso – ten shrapnels throughout the body, a shrapnel under his eye and a bullet near his ankle. Noam returned home with us with 2 bullets in his legs. Both sustained injuries but made it home with me. I, fortunately, remained unharmed.

I want to express my sorrow and commemorate my friends who were murdered:

Sharon Gordani RIP

Idan Herman RIP

Eden Naftaly RIP (Idans’s girlfriend)

Yuval Halivni RIP – who was in reserves

R.I.P.

Omer B.D.