A young woman who survived the terrorist attack at a music festival in Israel a year ago has died while dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
The family of Shirel Golan, who was hospitalized twice after escaping the massacre by Hamas militants during the Supernova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, said she died by suicide Sunday on her birthday.
The family was set to celebrate her 22nd birthday by visiting the Western Wall and the Cave of the Patriarchs, according to Ynet News.
“Shirel, rest in peace,” her father Meir Golan said Monday at the funeral, reports Israel Hayom.
“You had a difficult year. The National Insurance Institute and the state failed to help you. Let the state know there are 3,000 more Nova survivors who need help. May you be the last Nova casualty.”
Nova survivors who attended the funeral brought a banner that read, “Shirel was murdered on October 7, yet remained alive until today. Thousands of souls died and survived that day.”
The family blames the Israeli government for not doing enough to support her mental health.
“I saw that she had symptoms of post-traumatic stress, such as withdrawing and distancing herself from her friends,” her brother Eyal told Hebrew media, according to The Times of Israel.
“I asked her to take care of herself. She said that she doesn’t get any help from the state. She said that she only gets aid from the (Tribe of Nova Community Association). If the state had taken care of her, none of this would have happened.”
Reports suggest the country’s Welfare and Social Services Ministry denied the family’s accusations, saying she received care before and especially after the attack.
According to Eyal, on Oct. 7, 2023, he and his brothers set up a plan to help their sister escape the area under attack. She left her friends’ car and was rescued by a police officer, he said, adding that the first vehicle that left the festival became a “death car” where 11 people were murdered.
“The state killed Shirel,” Eyal told The Jerusalem Post. “If the state doesn’t wake up, there will be more cases like this.”