Sagi Gabay shared his story about surviving Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel with about 50 University of Maryland students Wednesday at Stamp Student Union.
Several organizations, including Terps for Israel and this university’s Jewish Student Union, hosted the event. During his talk, Gabay detailed his firsthand experiences from the attack and how he has attempted to process the events since.
Gabay attended the Tribe of Nova music festival in southern Israel, where Hamas killed at least 364 people and took more than 40 hostage in its 2023 attack, according to the Associated Press. Multiple of Gabay’s friends were killed or taken hostage during the attack, he said.
Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and took about 250 people hostage in its attack on Israel, according to the Associated Press. Israel declared war on Hamas the next day and its military forces have killed more than 44,500 Palestinians in Gaza since, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Gabay said he didn’t initially plan to attend the music festival, but his ex-girlfriend convinced him. Hamas’ attack took place on the festival’s second day, while Gabay and his friends were in a nearby parking lot, he said.
“I just started to see things falling in the sky. [I don’t] really understand what I’m seeing right now until I was told it was thousands of rockets flying above my head,” Gabay said. “I was really nervous. I told Maya, ‘I want to go home now, what’s going on?’”
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Gabay and his friends drove away and eventually found a shelter on the roadside to hide, he said.
After leaving the shelter and running through a field, Gabay heard screams and gunshots, he recalled. He then had a frantic phone call with his mother.
“I was terrified by the fact she might hear me getting killed when she’s on the phone,” Gabay said.
Gabay and his friends finally sought refuge in the nearby town of Patish after walking for about four hours before armed rescue buses came to rescue them, he said.
Terps for Israel vice president Elle Schanzer said Gabay’s story brings students’ attention to how life changed in an instant for festival attendees.
“We can’t forget what happened on Oct. 7,” Schanzer, a sophomore enrolled in letters and sciences, told The Diamondback. “His story brings to life that people who are just going to a music festival were brutally murdered just for listening to music.”
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In the days after the attack, Gabay realized what he had lived through, he said. Since Oct. 7, 2023, Gabay has left his job and focused on healing from his trauma and telling his story, he said.
Terps for Israel education chair Bailey Spitz said Wednesday’s event was important because students could hear firsthand from people impacted by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and truly understand what survivors experienced.
Spitz, a junior government and politics major, said she was inspired by Gabay’s healing journey since the attack.
“As much pain and sadness and hardship there is from Oct. 7 and everything that’s happened since then, there’s also an outlook that you can have of, ‘what can I do to make a positive difference and make things better?’” Spitz told The Diamondback.
Gabay concluded his speech by telling students how he has coped since Oct. 7.
“I think it’s important for us to [remember the attack], and I also understand that we need to keep life,” Gabay said. “We need to keep smiling, to keep dancing, to keep laughing. The power of life is more powerful than anything.”
