Caroline Baudry, edited by Philippe Folgado // Photo credit: MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP
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7:32 a.m., January 20, 2024
They say their lives ended on October 7. Three Israelis, survivors of the Nova festival massacre, where 367 people died and 34 taken hostage, came to Paris to bear witness to the few hours they lived through and which never leave them.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack in Israel. In a few moments, thousands of lives are turned into horror. Mirral Orana, a young woman of 27, participated in the Nova festival. When she talks about what she experienced, her story is broken by tears, but she continues to tell her story. Doing it is an obligation, she says.
“I have the feeling of being stuck in that day of October 7”
That day, she was shot in the left thigh, colliding with the bodies of three of her friends as she ran to escape the terrorists. Since then, she says she has lost control of her life: “I can’t fall asleep at night without a pill. I have trouble being in a place where there are people. I have anxiety and nightmares. A veterinary nurse by profession and caregiver of injured animals, the trauma of this day prevents her from returning to her work normally.
Blood, death and fear do not leave Yuval Vackin, another survivor, aged 24: “I have the feeling of being stuck in that day of October 7.” All the images she has seen never leave her: “Every day, every hour, every minute. Since October 7, I am no longer the same person… not even at all.” Their psychologists accompany them on this trip to Paris. They each listen to them for two hours a day. And witnessing today in the world is part of their reconstruction.