On October 7th, the Nova music festival, in Re'im (Israel) and near Gaza, went from celebrating life to enduring horror. Fortunately, Gal Gilboa-Dalal (1994) survived after eight indescribable hours. However, his younger brother, Guy (2001), was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and has now spent almost a hundred days without seeing the sunlight. After a press conference held on-site in Re'im, three months after that moment, I spoke with Gal.
How was your experience at the Nova Festival? How was the moment when you noticed that Hamas was coming?
I arrived here 15 minutes before the sirens, so I didn't have time to enjoy the festival. The sirens started, and we figured it was a missile attack because we could hear rockets and explosions. In Israel, you are familiar with that.
So we decided that we had to leave as soon as we could, and we started to leave by car. But we were stuck, surrounded by other cars that wanted to get out at the same time. There was traffic. And then, a massive shooting started. It was all around us. We couldn't really figure out where the terrorists were, but we had to run away. So we left our cars.
My brother wasn't with me; he was in another car. Because of the traffic, I was stuck in the middle, and he was stuck in the back. So we ran to different places. When I called him, he told me that he was taking care, that he was with his friends, and that they were okay.
I told him to stay covered and to stay alert, to be aware if anything happens. After I found a better place to hide, I called him. But he didn't answer anymore. Neither did his friends. When he stopped answering my calls, it was when I realized how messy that event was. I didn't understand it yet, but I could understand that it was bigger than just rockets.
What feelings did you have in that moment?
Think about being in the happiest place you can be. Think about going to a spiritual festival where people celebrate peace and love. People being so open to each other. Such great vibes and energies.
And your baby brother waiting for you there, to celebrate that kind of festival with you for the first time. The moment was so joyful, so magical. And, in just moments, it turns into hell. You have people running, people freezing, people screaming, people looking for their loved ones, people getting shot. And you can't even understand what is going on. It happened so fast.
I have been running and hiding for eight hours. At one point, you realize that maybe you will die. When you realize this... you know, I wasn't even scared when it happened, because I had my brother. I was just worried about him. And when he stopped answering, I felt helpless. I didn't know what to do. There were a lot of mixed feelings. So scared. People around you saying goodbye to their families.
When we finally were rescued from there, they got us into the police station, and they told me that my brother was a hostage. I saw a video, and I broke. Screamed and cried. There were so many people next to me that were also screaming and crying for their families and their loved ones. A lot of people who were hurt and lost. It was awful.
And how have you been feeling, you and your family, since then?
It took us a while to get out of the shock we were at first, from the grief that we felt, for the loss of the people that we love. But we also had great hope, which a lot of people can't have: it's the video of my brother as a hostage. You can see that he is already in Gaza, in the tunnels, head cuffed, on the floor. Looking well, healthy. But being frightened.
Apart from that, we believe that they took him to a safe place, and that he is being kept alive. That hope is what made me come here, speak to you, try to spread the story about him. Try to put as much international pressure as we can on Hamas, to let the Red Cross go in, to check the conditions of the hostages, to treat them, to give them medical attention. To promote the deal, that we will end this war if they release the hostages.
Do you have any message for those people that don't understand that now there are hostages who are suffering?
My brother was kidnapped from a spiritual festival. Our way of life is peace and love. We really believe in that. Half of the people that were at the festival had the slogan "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies" in their profile pictures.
We look for a peaceful way to live. Civilian citizens like my brother should never be used as currency. The world needs to understand that this could happen to anyone they care about, as it happened to me. That's my only goal.
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