Nearly 50 traumatised Israeli revellers have killed themselves since Nova ... trends now
Nearly 50 Israelis in attendance at the Nova Festival attack have taken their own lives since the October 7 attack, with others sectioned over psychiatric issues, a survivor claimed during an emotional speech in parliament today.
Guy Ben Shimon spoke at a hearing for a State Audit Commission on the treatment of survivors, focusing on the alleged failures of Israeli state bodies to look after the victims of the attack.
'Few people know, but there have been almost 50 suicides among the Nova survivors,' he claimed. 'This number, which was true two months ago, may have increased since.'
Authorities have disputed the claim, according to state-owned Kan 11 TV. In January, the Health Ministry insisted that there had been no rise in suicide rates since October 7.
Ben Shimon spoke alongside a number of survivors amid repeated complaints from victims and former hostages of inadequate care since the assault.
'There are many survivors who had to be forcibly hospitalized due to their psychological state,' he claimed.
'I am practically unable to do anything. I had to get a dog to help me survive in my daily life. The goal for all of us is to return to work and function normally, but we cannot do it without adequate help.'
More than 360 people were killed at the Nova festival near Re'im when Hamas gunmen swept in on the morning of October 7, indiscriminately targeting festivalgoers with assault rifles.
Orly Efraim reacts near the marker of her niece Eden Liza Auhaion, who was killed on the October 7 Hamas deadly attack at the Nova music festival on April 7, 2024 in Re'im, Israel
Festivalgoers flee as Hamas gunmen storm the event on October 7 last year
Charred and damaged cars along a desert road after an attack by Hamas militants at the Tribe of Nova Trance music festival near Kibbutz Re'im in southern Israel on Saturday, October 7
An Israeli officer walks around a campsite at the festival near Re'im kibbutz on October 17
The hearing on Tuesday saw a number of survivors come forwards with concerns about how they had been treated since the horror unfolded a little over six months ago.
"Why should I constantly prove what I experienced?' said Na'ama Eitan, another survivor of the attack. 'Why am I forced to go back to the details of what I experienced for them to believe me?'
She said that she took part in a study to monitor her health but now sleeps just two hours a night.
'Each morning at seven o'clock, I relive the moments when I was hidden in the bushes with the terrorists passing by me.
'I can no longer move on my own. I need to be constantly accompanied.'
Eitan described how she had spent seven hours under a tree, 'while terrorists passed beside me and I called the police and asked "Where are you? Why is no one coming?"
'If there is quiet around me, my head is noisy and I go back there,' she said.
'If it weren't for my psychologist, I would not be here.'
Or Nasa, a third survivor, shared how a friend stopped working because of a mental breakdown suffered in light of the attack.
'The National Insurance Institute doctors did not recognise her as suffering a work injury.
'I need to go to a psychologist but there is an appointment only five months from now.'
As many as 600,000 Israelis - of a population of around 9.3million - were awaiting
