Bringing broken survivors of the Israel Nova festival attack back from darkness - BBC News

"I just wanted them to be held": Inside the centre helping survivors of the 7 October attacks.

4 days agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsIsrael-Gaza warImage caption, Lior Gelbaum, 24, says she still struggles to listen to music after surviving Hamas's attack on the Nova festivalBy Anna FosterBBC News, Rishpon, central Israel"You can cry here," the sign reads in pale blue lettering on a clean white background.

Beyond it, comfortable sofas piled with cushions are screened off from the rest of the room. It's a safe, private corner where survivors of the Nova music festival can be with others who went through the same ordeal on 7 October, and get the mental health support many of them desperately need.

More than 360 young partygoers were shot, beaten or burnt to death by Hamas attackers, who stormed the festival site near the Israel-Gaza perimeter fence early that morning. Another 40 were taken hostage.

First, social media posts showed panicked crowds fleeing from rockets fired from Gaza and gunmen on the ground. Later, distressing videos from first responders began to confirm the scale of the massacre, as they filmed scores of murdered partygoers.

In the following days, Dr Lia Naor realised that - unlike those who'd been evacuated from their nearby kibbutzim - the young people from the festival who lived through the ordeal didn't have a community already around them to give support.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67636785?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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