Two weeks after the Hamas attack on Israel which killed nearly 1,400 people, the return to normal life for the survivors is trying. Faced with the trauma, Israel decided to set up a psychological unit. Among the victims were survivors of the music festival, Tribe of Nova, which was held just five kilometers from the Gaza border.
Sitting on the terrace of his apartment, Shay shakes his hands. His fingers fidget nervously on the table. He speaks in a rapid, almost automatic tone and he says he hasn’t been able to sleep since that day of October 7. “It’s hard, really very hard. When I hear buses passing by, I think it’s rocket fire. When I hear sirens, I think of rockets and armed men chasing me. When I hear motorcycles, I imagine it’s a shooting,” he explains to Europe 1.
“I feel a lot of sadness”
More than ten days after the attack on the festival, the young man remembers it in the smallest details. As soon as he returned to Tel Aviv, he was put in contact with a psychological cell. “I consult two specialist therapists, that helps me. But even if I have 1,000 psychiatrist sessions, I think that the main element to get through all that is time,” underlines the young Israeli.
“At the moment, I feel a lot of sadness, guilt and regret, because I was not able to help anyone other than my loved ones,” he adds. Therapist Shiri Daniels receives survivors like Shay every day. She runs Eran, a psychological support call center.
Up to 3,000 calls per day
“It takes time before we can accept all these events. I think there will be more and more trauma. For now, we are still in the first stage. So the main goal is to prevent the development of post-traumatic stress syndrome”, estimates the specialist.
Since the attacks, his NGO Eran receives up to 3,000 calls daily compared to 600 usually.