Nick Zhiharev had attended music festivals in the desert region in southern Israel before, and each time he found it intriguing that such an event could be held just outside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
“But never could I ever imagine a situation like what happened [on Oct. 7], unfortunately,” Mr. Zhiharev told The Epoch Times from his hometown of Rishon Lezion, about 30 kilometres south of Tel Aviv, on Oct. 10.
The 28-year-old was among the thousands of young men and women attending the open-air Tribe of Nova music festival held around 5 kilometres from the Gaza Strip border when Hamas terrorists launched a multi-pronged attack in the early morning of Oct. 7. At least 260 people were killed at the festival, and a still-unannounced number were taken hostage.
Mr. Zhiharev and his family were residents of Toronto while he was in high school. He later attended the University of Charleston West Virginia in the United States, where he played football on a scholarship, and subsequently moved back to Israel, where he operates a moving business.
On the morning of Oct. 7, Mr. Zhiharev recounts that he was enjoying the desert sunrise at the all-night concert when he started hearing irregular sounds. He first thought they were fireworks as part of the festival, but it wasn’t long before it became clear that it was the sound of rockets.
“The music cuts off, and police started saying ‘get on the ground,’” he said.
Sheltering from bombs isn’t new to Israelis, and at that point Mr. Zhiharev and the two friends he had come to the concert with thought the bombing would soon stop.
“It’s crazy to say that, but it’s something that we’re used to, and we have the Iron Dome,” he said, referring to the air defence system designed to intercept and destroy incoming projectiles.
But it wasn’t long before they started hearing gunshots and knew that danger was imminent. That’s when they decided to rush to their car to get out.
“Once we get to the exit, we can see the mayhem that’s happening. Both sides of the road were blocked by cars and police. At the time, we still hadn’t realized what was happening. We were still in disbelief,” he said.
At this point Mr. Zhiharev and his friends decided to abandon their car and get away on foot.
“My friends were looking at me and we’re all kind of panicked,“ he said. ”I told them, ‘This is what’s happening right now, this is the situation we’re in. We don’t have time to panic, we don’t have time for fear. Our objective is to survive and keep moving,'” he said.
Mr. Zhiharev said he checked their whereabouts on Google Maps on his phone and then they just ran in the opposite direction from the sounds of the gunshots and the Gaza border, heading east.
“We were walking for about two to three hours in the fields, going through all kinds of terrain while getting bombed at, shots close and far, from every direction. You don’t really understand what’s happening,” he said.
“A lot of people around you are [walking] as well, in different directions. Some were saying that there are terrorists who have infiltrated, and they’ve conquered, and I still was in disbelief.”
The group of friends eventually got to a barn in a field where they took shelter. By this point, Mr. Zhiharev estimates they had walked 5 to 10 kilometres.
“That’s when I looked online and realized the magnitude of what was happening. We were there in a barn between three towns that were currently conquered by Hamas,” he said.
“We can hear the shootings, we can hear the bombs. Everything is happening around us, and we can’t move. There is no [Israeli] army in sight. People around us are losing it. And we’re trying to get a hold of somebody with authority to explain what to do. Everybody whom we got a hold of just told us to wait, because right now it’s crazy outside.”
There was running water in the barn that they could drink, and electricity that they could use to charge their phones. Eventually, after staying in the barn for around two hours, the group of friends was rescued by volunteer citizens who were driving from nearby towns to pick up those who were stranded.
“They took us to a nearby town, and that was the first time I saw any sign of [Israeli] military. We’re in this big shelter full of people, and they all have so many different stories. Some have encountered horrors while getting away. We couldn’t believe what was happening,” he said.
Hamas’s attacks were launched from the air, sea, and on the ground. Israeli cities were pounded by thousands of missiles fired from Gaza, while armed terrorists killed civilians on the ground in cities around Gaza. Terrorists have also taken members of the Israeli military as well as civilians, among them children, as hostages in Gaza.
‘This Is Horrible’
Mr. Zhiharev and his friends were taken by bus to a bigger city, Be'er Sheva, which was safe from the attacks.“That’s when everything started to sink in on what was happening, and people showed me on that bus videos of the kidnappings, and people living the worst nightmare imaginable being kidnapped into Gaza,” he said.
“Once I got off the bus was when I realized I was safe, and I let go of everything. All the emotions I had suppressed just burst out. It was a really intense moment.”
Now back in his hometown further north, he says it’s not getting any easier, as the names of the dead are being announced, and he knows many of them.
“I had to go to two funerals today. Tomorrow I have another one,” he said. “Today was probably the hardest day out of all of those days, and it’s going to keep getting harder.”
Mr. Zhiharev says he has fond memories of his time in Canada, and he cherished it for being a multicultural environment.
“I love Canada very much. The people there are very kind, very open, very multicultural,” he said.
He said he’s aware of rallies celebrating the Hamas attacks in some Canadian cities. He said they should be looking at the horrors that have unfolded and realize what they are supporting.
“As people are brainwashed, they don’t know what’s happening. They’re getting their sources from propaganda channels,” he said.
But the world shouldn’t let the forces that led to the tragedy on Oct. 7 thrive, Mr. Zhiharev said.
“We as a global human society cannot let this kind of evil exist in this world. This evil must be terminated,” he said.
“We need to understand that Hamas is ISIS. This is horrible, and this is only the beginning. There are hundreds of people kidnapped in Gaza right now, and I’m sure there’s going to be a lot more atrocities.”
