Survivors of Hamas Rave Massacre Share Their Stories With International Students

Jerusalem, 6 November, 2023 (TPS) -- Survivors of the Hamas rave massacre met on Monday with students from the International School of the University of Haifa, with the aim of revealing the chilling stories to the students.

“You can’t imagine that people my age went through this hell. I tried to imagine myself in the same situation and I just couldn’t,” said Gina Rihanna from Honduras.

About 20 students from the International School of the University of Haifa from countries such as Ghana, Cameroon, Germany, the United States, Venezuela, Myanmar, China, listened survivors of the attack tell first-person accounts of the atrocities.

The Supernova Sukkot Music Festival, an all-night rave, was attended 3,000 people on the grounds of Kibbutz Re’im, which is adjacent to the Gaza Strip. The event was well-advertised on social media, likely drawing Hamas’s attention. At least 260 people were killed at the music festival while others were taken to Gaza as hostages.

The Haifa University event also included smaller roundtable discussions where students could ask questions to the survivors.

“They wanted to know how it was and what happened… and a recurring question was how they can help me,” said Tamir, a 23 year-old survivor from Rehovot. “So on a personal level, they can’t help me, but what they can do is get as close as possible to understanding the truth, and spread this truth, that people will get an idea of what is really happening here.”

Sang Lat-Ja, a student from Myanmar, said she thought she would understand Israel’s situation because her Southeast Asian homeland has also been through war. But the account of Hamas’s atrocities made it clear that the conflicts of Israel and Myanmar are more different than she imagined.

“What I learned at today’s meeting is the importance of telling the true story. People in the world will not understand what is really happening to the people here, unless they share and tell it. Of course I will also make my contribution by telling the story to those I know,” Lat-Ja said.