NOVA Memorial Site

“Your light will continue to shine bright and your joyous laughter will forever be remembered”

The Shelter of Death

On the morning of October 7, 2023, many of the Nova party participants fled to the shelters located along Road 232. One of them, which was originally placed at the Gama junction and in which the late Dan Harel and the late Ron Shemer were murdered, has been transferred to the memorial site in the Re’im parking lot. The shelter allows visitors to understand, first-hand, the dimensions of the shelter space, and to learn not only the story of Dan and Ron, but also the stories of the many men and women who were murdered in the various shelters along the road, and the heroic deeds that took place in those shelters.

The interior of the shelter is only about six and a half square meters. It is about 3.10 meters long, 2.10 meters wide and 2 meters high. Despite the small area inside each of the shelters, some of them were crowded with close to 40 people who sought protection from the rocket fire, not knowing that convoys of terrorists were already making their way towards them.

When the terrorists reached the area, they fired into the shelters and repeatedly threw grenades into them. Many of the people who were hiding in the shelters were killed, others were kidnapped, and some of the survivors were forced to hide for hours under the bodies of their friends, while pretending to be dead, until rescue forces arrived.

Acts of Heroism along Road 232 

Acts of amazing heroism took place in this very difficult situation. The late Aner Shapira stood at the doorway of the shelter at Re’im and caught and threw out the grenades that had been thrown into the shelter, until he himself was killed. In the shelter at the Be’eri Junction, the late Avi Sassi  was with his daughter Danielle and his niece Lee. When the shooting began and grenades began to be thrown into the shelter, he jumped on a grenade, defending them with his body; he sacrificed his life for them.

Aner’s and Avi’s stories are only two of the many personal stories and acts of heroism that took place along Road 232. Most of the shelters have remained in their original locations, and the manner in which each of them will be commemorated will be determined at a later date.

 

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