Nearly 50 survivors of October 7 music festival attack have committed suicide

Nearly 50 survivors of the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival on October 7th have

died by suicide in the last six months because of emotional trauma associated with the tragedy, according to one survivor.

“Few people know, but there have been almost 50 suicides among the Nova survivors. This number, which was true two months ago, may have increased since,” Nova festival survivor Guy Ben Shimon told a government hearing in Israel about the treatment of the Oct. 7th survivors.

Many of his friends who escaped the carnage could not recover from what they witnessed, he said.

“There are many survivors who had to be forcibly hospitalized due to their psychological state. My friends are not getting out of bed, neither am I,” he said in Hebrew.

“I am practically unable to do anything. I had to get a dog to help me survive in my daily life. The goal for all of us is to return to work and function normally, but we cannot do it without adequate help,” he added.

The hearing focused on government treatment of the survivors of the Hamas attack and alleged deficiencies. Some survivors said they faced bureaucratic obstacles to getting treated for PTSD.

“Why should I constantly prove what I experienced? Why am I forced to go back to the details of what I experienced for them to believe me?” another survivor, Naama Eitan, told the hearing.

“I participated in a study that monitored my pulse and other parameters and revealed how bad my health is. I sleep on average two hours a night. Each morning at 7 o’clock, I relive the moments when I was hidden in the bushes with terrorists passing by me. I can no longer move on my own, I need to be constantly accompanied,” she said.

During the terrorist attack, 364 people were murdered at the Nova Music Festival. At least 600,000 Israelis have been waiting for psychological support since Oc. 7, according to i24NEWS.