Hamas attack survivor tells his story

`Never dreamed there were terrorists at the festival massacring people'

Lior Shitrit said when he gets married, has children, or passes through any of life's major milestones, he'll think of his friend Guy Simchi.

“He should still be here. He should be able to get married and have kids. He was my best friend since I was 10 years old,” Shitrit said. “He stayed outside and protected the shelter where all my friends were. He put up a really good fight, but then they doused oil and lit the room on fire where he was.”

Shitrit and Simchi, both 20, grew up together in the small town of Gedera in Israel, south of Tel Aviv. Both attended the Supernova music festival near the border with Gaza on Oct. 7. Only Shitrit survived, after having experienced “many miracles,” he told a reporter at the Federation CJA building in Snowdon on Monday.

Shitrit and three other survivors were in Montreal telling harrowing tales of that day. Roughly 1,200 Israeli citizens were killed and 250 others were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists who broke through security gates along the Gaza Strip. The resulting Israel-hamas war has seen the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians.

Shitrit said he went to the festival with several friends around midnight. He was dancing and enjoying the music, when the music stopped and thousands of missiles flew over his head in an attack that lasted more than 30 minutes.

“We were sitting next to a tree, and we didn't know what to do,” Shitrit said. “We were listening to music on our phone, and expecting the attack to stop. People were panicking all around us, but my friends and I were calm.”