An Israeli man who survived the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on a music festival in Israel has died by suicide, days after the second anniversary of the attack.
Roei Shalev, 28, lost his girlfriend, 25-year-old Mapal Adam, and his friend, Hili Solomon, to the attack two years ago.
On Friday, Shalev was found dead in a burning car on a highway exit near Netanya, The Jerusalem Post reported. CCTV footage captured Shalev at a gas station filling a fuel canister shortly before his body was discovered, according to the report.
Before his death, Shalev shared a message on Instagram. "I'm truly sorry. I can't bear this pain any longer," he wrote. "I'm burning inside, and I can't contain it anymore. Never in my life have I felt such pain and suffering - deep, burning, eating me from within. I just want this suffering to end. I'm alive - but inside, I'm already dead."
On October 7, 2023, Shalev and Adam were at the Nova festival near Re'im, according to The Times of Israel. The couple hid under a truck and played dead for hours as chaos unfolded around them. Adam was fatally shot at close range, while Shalev was shot twice but survived.
In a 2024 YouTube interview, Shalev said he and Adam exchanged "I love you" and closed their eyes to play dead just minutes before a Hamas militant approached. "They disappeared and I opened my eyes - Mapal is next to me in a pool of blood. She got bullet in her heart," he recalled.
Days after the attack, Shalev's mother also died by suicide, setting her car on fire, according to The JPost.
The Nova Tribe Community organisation, representing survivors and families of the festival victims, mourned Shalev's death. "Roei was the backbone of the community and his death is inconceivable news for us," the group said in a Facebook statement. "The Nova Tribe Community Foundation bows its head with a broken heart and deep sorrow, over the untimely death of its Roei, a community member who died under tragic circumstances."
On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out an attack in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages. Since then, Israel's war on the narrow strip has killed over 67,200 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
