Nova

Raim Parking Lot – Nova Party Site

A grove where a trance party was held. The operations officer of the Gaza Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Sahar Fogel, opposed the party due to its proximity to the border, but eventually, the head of the Operations Division of the Southern Command, Nimrod Tzilovsky, approved the event. The party had 4,400 attendees. About 40 police officers were allocated for the event. At 6:22 AM, alarms began, and a few minutes later, it was decided to evacuate the area. At 7:01 AM, the first report of Hamas gunfire at the site was received by MDA (Israeli emergency services). It later became clear that Hamas was unaware of the party, but upon encountering it, they reported it and terrorists rushed to the site. For example, a group of thirty terrorists that was supposed to attack Be'er Sheva and the Hatzerim base was diverted to Nova instead). A total of 365 people were killed, 260 on the Nova grounds, and 105 while fleeing. There were 43 hostages, 4 of whom were released in November (Mia and Itai Regev, Roni Koriboi, and Mia Shama). In January 2024, in connection with Tu BiShvat, the KKL (Jewish National Fund) planted a forest with 364 trees near the massacre site.

We read the people of light a text that was written by some families of the victims

Shelters of Kibbutz Ra'im

In the shelters of Kibbutz Ra'im, Ra'im Junction, and their surroundings, 55 people fleeing from Nova were murdered.

Shelter on the Eastern Side of Ra'im Junction

In this shelter, about 30 partygoers hid, including Anar Shapira, a fighter in the Nahal Brigade and musician who was on vacation (he wrote 60 songs and composed some of them). At the start of the attack, he received a call from his commander to urgently respond to the Sufa post (the battle at Sufa lasted 14 hours and ended with 65 terrorists killed and 11 soldiers). He headed south but, due to rocket fire, was stopped at a shelter in front of Kibbutz Ra'im. 27 people gathered there. When terrorists arrived, Osama Abu Asa z"l from Tel Sheva went out to try to speak to them but was tortured and killed. Next, Lidur Levy z"l tried to escape by running, and he was also killed. Anar managed to repel eight grenades, but the ninth exploded in his hand, killing him on the spot. Eitan Ahali (who survived) managed to repel another grenade, but the next one also exploded inside the shelter. A car camera captured much of the event.

Our next visit is to Maon ancient synagogue.