Shani Gabay, a 25-year-old law school graduate, was murdered by Hamas terrorists who invaded the Nova Music Festival on October 7th.
By Shula Rosen
Aviel Gabay, whose sister Shani Gabay was a Nova music festival victim, said she “did not die in vain,” but she, as well as her father during his search for her, saved many lives.
Shani Gabay, a 25-year-old law school graduate from Yokne’am, in northern Israel, was murdered by Hamas terrorists who invaded the Nova Music Festival on October 7th and was erroneously buried with another victim.
Shani was working at the music festival and celebrated her friend Ben’s birthday by watching the sunrise with other friends.
When Hamas invaded and started firing rockets an hour later, the friends drove north to a shelter near Kibbutz Alumim.
The terrorists threw grenades into this shelter, causing her friends to lose their limbs.
Shani, thinking her friends were dead, ran to her car, and although she got shot in the leg, she fearlessly got into her car and started driving.
Along the way, she warned people who were escaping to head eastward to Moshav Patish, advice that must have saved their lives.
Aviel recounts, “I spoke to her around 9 am, told her to relax, breathe, and that our father was on his way to her. He had almost reached Re’im. I asked her to be in contact with him.”
When the police arrived, they urged people to run and save themselves, but since Shani couldn’t run, she found shelter with others in an abandoned ambulance.
Terrorists threw grenades and shot people hiding there, and only 2 of the 20 survived.
Aviel recalls, “My father arrived onsite at 9.30 am., unarmed and with the belief that he would find Shani. The place was on fire and full of terrorists.”
Yaakov, their father, saw the burnt-out ambulance but didn’t realize then that Shani was inside.
While searching for his daughter, Yaakov picked up many people escaping the terror onslaught and saved their lives.
Aviel said that if Shani had not been caught up in the terror attack, “my father would not have driven three hours from Yokneam [in the Lower Galilee] to Kibbutz Re’im to look for her and would not have saved many others in the process,” Aviel said.