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#Nova: documenting the horror of October 7

Through videos and audios recorded by the young people who attended the festival and by Hamas terrorists, this film narrates one of the most violent events during the 7 October attack on Israel 

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Soldados israelíes caminan por los restos de una zona residencial del Kibbutz Kfar Aza, en el sur de Israel, el 10 de octubre de 2023 REUTERS/RONEN ZVULUN
In addition to the festival, Hamas terrorists also attacked military bases and several kibbutzim near the border with the Gaza Strip - REUTERS/RONEN ZVULUN
Margarita Arredondas
Updated: 28/05/24
  1. "We will not stop dancing"
  2. Hamas, responsible for the suffering of Israelis and Palestinians 
  3. Screams Before Silence: the sexual violence suffered by Israeli women 

In just under an hour, the documentary film "#Nova" manages to convey the terror that unfolded on the morning of 7 October during the massacre at the music festival, when thousands of Hamas terrorists launched a brutal attack in southern Israel, massacring 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapping 253 more. 

At the festival alone, the terrorists murdered 360 people and took 40 hostage. Rescue teams and survivors also confirmed that the terrorists committed sexual assault, torture and mutilation.  

The film chronicles that fateful morning by focusing on several young people who attended the festival and survived, a father whose son and daughter were kidnapped that day - and later released in the November truce - and a policeman credited with rescuing 150 people. 

"#Nova" is composed entirely of real-time video and audio recorded by some of the more than 3,500 people who attended the Supernova music festival in Re'im, as well as by the Hamas terrorists, who wore GoPro cameras embedded in their uniforms.  

At the beginning of the film, the young people can be seen enjoying the music and dancing, until the first rockets start to appear at dawn. Then, the organisers of the festival realise that something is not right and decide to end the party. At the same time, armed men on motorbikes are seen shouting "Allah is great" and heading towards the area where the festival is being held. 

While the young people who were at the festival begin to call their families and flee the area. Through videos and audios, they wonder why the army and police are not there and consider hiding instead of escaping.  

Many opted for the second option, running through fields or trying to flee by car. Not all of them managed to survive. Others hid in places like ditches or gutters while filming themselves. During those minutes, many began to pray. Others said goodbye to their loved ones. 

As the hours passed, security forces finally arrived at the festival area, where they found a desolate scene. Burnt out cars with bodies inside, corpses strewn around the festival grounds, including the bar and stage. 

"We will not stop dancing"

In addition to remembering many of those killed and kidnapped that day, "#Nova" ends with a promise: "We will not stop dancing", a phrase that has become one of the main slogans in Israel in the aftermath of 7 October.  

The film shows the contrast between those who celebrated life and those who celebrated murder and death. The 54-minute film is just a small sample of the horror that unfolded that Saturday in different parts of southern Israel.  

In addition to the festival, terrorists also attacked bases where young men were doing their military service - many of them, like the Nahal Oz vigilantes, were unarmed - several kibbutzim near the border with the Gaza Strip, murdering, raping, torturing and kidnapping everyone they came across, including children and the elderly.  

Hamas, responsible for the suffering of Israelis and Palestinians 

This unprecedented and brutal attack was the beginning of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, a conflict that has also been joined by other proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, such as Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen or pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria, groups that launch recurrent attacks against Israeli territory. 

The Hamas attack, planned with Tehran's help and aimed at thwarting a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, has also provoked a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Thousands of Gazans have died in these months of war, while many others have had to flee their homes to escape the fighting.  

This war has shown once again how Hamas uses its own population as human shields, firing rockets into Israel from densely populated areas or public places so that, following the Israeli response, as many civilians as possible will be killed.  

The entry of Israeli troops into Gaza for the first time since 2005, when Jerusalem ordered a full withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, has revealed the extensive weaponry acquired by Hamas over the years, as well as the kilometre-long network of tunnels used by its leaders to hide in. 

Instead of investing in the welfare of the Gazan population, the Hamas leadership - the majority of which is in Qatar - has chosen to spend millions of dollars on weapons with a single goal: to destroy Israel through the suffering of its own people.  

Screams Before Silence: the sexual violence suffered by Israeli women 

In addition to the film about the Nova festival, American businesswoman Sheryl Sandberg has directed a documentary entitled Screams Before Silence, which deals with Hamas' use of sexual violence against Israeli women.  

Screams Before Silence features women who survived the massacre and, in many cases, were subjected to or witnessed sexual assault. Most of them asked themselves the same question: "Which is worse: to be kidnapped, to be raped or to be killed? "

Amit Soussana, a victim of sexual abuse during her captivity in Gaza, also appears in the documentary to talk about her traumatic experience and to recall that, almost 8 months later, several women are still being held hostage by Hamas. 

Tags:
Gaza Israel War Terrorism Hamas
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