Roi Shalev

Roi Shalev was at the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

It was the deadliest single attack Hamas carried out that day.

At a hospital that evening, Shalev told NPR he and his girlfriend dove under a parked truck and played dead.

Then they were shot.

It was a huge nightmare.

I didn't see myself getting out alive, he said.

Later, he discovered his girlfriend didn't survive.

Weeks later, his mother killed herself.

This past Friday, the day Israel announced a Gaza ceasefire, Shalev was found dead in a torched car.

In a social media post, he asked for forgiveness and said he couldn't bear the pain.

He was 30 years old.

Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv.