October 7 > Nova Festival > Testimony of Gal B
This beautiful picture was taken minutes before everything started, a beautiful sunrise with the moon in the background, in stark contrast to everything that would happen to our lives in the hours to come. It's 06:30. Four of us out of our group of nine are dancing group of nine, watching the sunrise and enjoying the music. Then it began; at first, we heard rockets and other muffled sounds, thinking they were fireworks. After a few minutes of confusion, we realized it was a heavy rocket barrage, and people started running everywhere. It's was a truly apocalyptic scene.
The event organizer announced that there was a heavy barrage, and everyone needed to leave. Some left immediately. Those who did encountered a blockade of terrorists posing as policemen and soldiers and were slaughtered. It was that simple.
We hesitated. As someone who grew up in southern Israel, I wasn't too stressed about a few rockets. I told my friends that we needed to take a moment, lay on the ground, and wait for it to pass. But the bombing continued and showed no signs of stopping. The event management began announcing that there was heavy bombing in the area, and everyone needed to evacuate the event. There was even more chaos. No one understood what was happening.
We rushed to collect our tents and chairs, but we were still in a daze and didn't comprehend the severity of the situation. The event's announcers advised people to use emergency exits. Something started feeling weird, but we were still confused, trying to follow instructions. I gathered my friends who came with me and told them we were rushing to the car, leaving whatever gear was left behind. Two girls who were with me went back to retrieve a forgotten shoe, and we waited. Under pressure, I first started driving when only one of them had gotten in, but I stopped quickly. Everyone was accounted for and we started driving.
I drove towards the entrance from which we entered the event. As I tried to exit from there, one of the event's security guards told us in a stressed voice, to make a U-turn. I