NEGEV DESERT, ISRAEL – For thousands of young people who gathered at the Nova music festival in the Negev desert near the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, the event was meant to be a night of unity, peace, and celebration.

But as hours passed, that event became a nightmare. What unfolded was a mass-casualty terrorist attack that experts have described as an “unprecedented convergence of collective trauma and altered states of consciousness”.

Hundreds were murdered, dozens were taken hostage, and survivors were left to grapple with psychological wounds that, for many, have proven even more stubborn than the physical ones.

Thirty-six-year-old Mazal Tazazo, an Ethiopian-Israeli mother, was one of the survivors. She shared her experience with a team of senior media Editors who recently visited the Nova Massacre site.

“I remember the exact moment the music stopped, and suddenly, I saw smoke in the air. What followed was chaos. Hamas terrorists, more than 100 of them, had stumbled upon the festival.” Tazazo asserted.

The attack unfolded across a wide area. Some survivors found refuge in different areas, while others hid in bushes for hours as terrorists hunted them down.

For many survivors, the physical escape from the attack was only the beginning of their ordeal. The psychological wounds have proven far more persistent and, in some cases, deadly.

“It’s crazy, you know. My two friends were killed in the incident. Four months ago, they found another part of my friend Dannell’s body, and I had to bury my friend for the third time. You know, it’s really crazy.” She noted emotionally.”

The road to recovery for Nova survivors is anything but straightforward. Many survivors were under the influence of psychoactive substances when the attack occurred, a factor that has profoundly shaped their healing process. Recent research published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology identified two interrelated recovery pathways emerging from survivors’ narratives: Interpersonal and Therapeutic Supports and Collective Healing Practices.

Researchers and clinicians are urging the Israeli government and the international community to recognize the scale of the mental health emergency facing Nova survivors. With approximately 55% of survivors suffering from severe PTSD, the need for accessible, culturally sensitive, and trauma-informed care is critical.