Nova festival survivors sue Israeli state for army negligence

News Desk - The Cradle 

The lawsuit does not address evidence that Israeli forces killed many of the partygoers who died at the event through helicopter airstrikes

Forty two survivors of the Nova music festival in Re'im on 7 October have filed a lawsuit placing responsibility on the Israeli government for the tragic events of the festival, Israeli media reported on 1 January.

Some 42 survivors of the Nova music festival are seeking NIS 200 million ($55 million) in damages, blaming the state, the army, the police and the Shin Bet for their omissions and negligence in failing to protect them during the early morning Hamas attack in which 364 people attending the concert were killed and others injured.

The lawsuit blames the Israeli army for not having sufficient forces to adequately protect the concert, which took place very near the Gaza border and was organized with approval from senior army officials. 

The lawsuit further blames the army for failing to notify concert organizers when signs of a possible Hamas attack emerged late the night before, on Friday 6 October. 

Senior Shin Bet and army officials held two emergency meetings, one by phone around midnight on Friday night, and one in person at 3 am Saturday. 
However, the officials failed to notify the concert organizers. Had they done so, the concert could have been evacuated before the Hamas attack took place, starting with a missile barrage launched into various settlements in southern Israel at 6:30 am Saturday morning.

"All the defendants had to do was make a phone call to the responsible parties on their behalf in order for them to disperse the party in view of the notifications received on the night between 6/10/23 - 7/10/23,” the lawyers filing the lawsuit on behalf of the victims said.

"The disaster could have been avoided at so many points in time," representatives for the survivors told Israeli media.

"One phone call separated the plaintiffs' lives and the integrity of their bodies and souls from the destruction of their lives," the 42 victims involved in the lawsuit wrote. 

The concert was located near the Re’im military base, home to the Israeli army’s Gaza Division. When concert goers began evacuating from the party due to the missile barrage, they got into their cars and headed to the Route 232 highway, where they encountered Hamas fighters en route to attack the base and other settlements. The fighters then began to take concert attendees captive. 

The Israeli Border Police and Air Force responded, causing a large battle to erupt on Route 232 and the adjacent festival site. Concert goers fled and hid in the trees from the Hamas fighters as Israeli helicopters and warplanes bombed the festival area, a survivor of the festival, Noa Kalash, told Time..

The Israeli helicopters killed both Hamas fighters and some Israeli concert goers with airstrikes, according to an Israeli police report.

According to Michal Yaniv, head of the foreign relations division at the National Military Police, most of the bodies of the dead were terribly burned, including many beyond recognition. This suggests that many or most died from airstrikes.

Israeli officials have not acknowledged the role the Border Police and Apache helicopters played, and instead suggest Hamas massacred all 364 victims in the hours before the Israeli army responded later that afternoon.

The lawsuit on behalf of the victims also does not appear to address the issue of Israeli fire killing many of the concert attendees. 

Israeli media reported that the lawsuit said that senior officers in the Gaza Division of the Israeli army expressed concerns about a large gathering so close to the Gaza border, but the event was still approved.

Additionally, a senior operations officer of the Gaza Division opposed the holding of the Nova festival, viewing it as an unnecessary security risk. He emphasized that the army would have difficulty securing the party throughout the weekend, because it was the Simchat Torah holiday and many soldiers were on leave.

Despite his warnings and warnings of additional officers, permission to hold the party was granted and no one in the army or the police informed the approximately 3,500 participants of the Nova party about security concerns nor of the signs of a potential Hamas attack that emerged on 6 October.

"It is incomprehensible," the court wrote, “how the defendants did not order the party to be dispersed immediately.”