A survivor of the Nova Festival massacre has revealed how a scar on her arm saved her from being raped and killed by Hamas terrorists. May Hayat, 33, from Tel Aviv, is among several survivors who have arrived in London for an immersive exhibition about the atrocities that occurred at the festival in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Nova Festival Massacre
Some 413 people were killed and 44 taken hostage during the annual trance festival, as terrorists also attacked nearby kibbutzim. A recent report by The Civil Commission, an independent Israeli women's rights NGO, detailed sexual abuse, rape, and mutilation of both men and women. The exhibition in Shoreditch, running for six weeks, displays footage from mobile phones, terrorist body cams, and CCTV, showing the festival's descent from celebration to terror. Burned-out cars, bullet-riddled toilet cubicles, and abandoned belongings are among the exhibits, alongside rows of shoes reminiscent of Auschwitz.
May's Story
May, a bartender at the festival, described the event as the greatest she had seen in Israel. When rockets began at 6:29 am on October 7, she initially thought it was a normal attack but soon realized it was different. She sent a goodbye message to her family and ran with her friend Liron Barda, who stayed to help the injured and was later killed. May sought refuge under a table in a police command post, where an officer told them to pray and run for their lives. She blacked out and woke alone, then fled outside.
She found an abandoned ambulance but left, sensing it was a death trap. Her instincts proved correct: terrorists targeted the vehicle with an anti-tank missile, killing all 18 inside. May then ran with a man named Avi Dadon, and they hid in a shallow pit. After 20 minutes, eight terrorists found them. They pulled May out first, and she noticed a 14-year-old among them. Avi begged for his life, but May remained resilient.
The terrorists began touching May, but the leader stopped them after seeing a scar on her right arm, covered by a tattoo. The scar, from a childhood burn, held spiritual significance for the terrorists, who believed harming a strong woman would cost them their promised 72 virgins. The leader gave May his jacket and said they would be taken as hostages. They walked for two hours, forced to sit on dead bodies. When Avi refused to stand, he was stabbed to death in front of May.
The terrorists tried to take May to Gaza in a car, but it wouldn't start. They returned to the festival, where May helped them open cash registers. One terrorist pressed the knife that killed Avi against her cheek, but the leader again intervened, telling May she was free to go. She ran and hid under a stage among dead bodies, covering herself with blood, until the army rescued her two and a half hours later.
Life After Nova
May now views her scar differently. Once a source of shame due to bullying, she now sees it as her savior. She had gotten a tattoo three weeks before the attack to decorate the scar. "Thanks to this scar they didn't rape me," she said. "When they saw I was strong and didn't cry, they didn't kidnap me. I used to despise this scar, now I love it."
May's friend Liron Barda, 26, was posthumously recognized as a hero for refusing to abandon the injured. May urges others to live life fully: "Every breath should count." The exhibition, 06:29AM - The Moment Music Stood Still, runs in Shoreditch, London, until July 5.
