When you walk through the Nova music festival site in Re'im, in the Gaza Envelope, you look into the eyes of the victims through their photos, and you can hear their silent cries asking for their stories to be told — and many have answered the call.
Since October 7, most of the tourists that have come to Israel, have been visiting family, or volunteering. Many of them have also taken tours to the Nova music festival site (Supernova festival) to bear witness, and keep the story alive, much like the "never forget" sentiment that is associated with the Holocaust.
At 06:29 on October 7, Hamas sent a non-stop barrage of rockets into Israel while thousands more terrorists infiltrated the Gaza border communities and brutally murdered, 1,200 innocent men, women, children and babies. More than 300 of them were slaughtered at the Nova music festival in Re'im. A few of the festival goers were also among the more than 240 kidnapped that day. Over 100 hostages (not all alive) remain in captivity at the time of publication. Referred to in Israel as "The Black Sabbath," it was the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Request for tours
Tour guides have been taking people to the Gaza Envelope to places like the Nova music festival site. Facebook and WhatsApp groups have been buzzing with daily requests for tours.
From Tour Guide to "Tour Guide & Nova Survivor"
Amit Musaei began leading tours to the Nova site as part of his Gaza Envelope tour. He wants the world to know exactly what happened on October 7. But his circumstance is unique. Musaei is more than just a tour guide — he is also a Nova festival survivor. He shares his own survivor testimony as part of his tour, and also the tragedy of three of his close friends that were brutally murdered on the way to the festival on the morning of October 7.
Tour guide and Nova survivor, Amit Musaei, leading a tour of the Nova site as part of his Gaza Envelope tour. (Photo: Courtesy, Amit Musaei)
Photos from the Nova site memorial and grounds taken in February 2024, when the kalaniot (anemones), and other spring flowers began to bloom, amidst the sorrow and loss. (Photos: © Israel Sites and Sights / © Janis Raisen)
Musaei drove to the festival with three of his friends, arriving at around 01:30 (between October 6 and October 7), while expecting to meet up with three additional friends a few hours later, on the morning of October 7.
Shortly after the rocket attack from Gaza began, he and his friends quickly headed to Musaei's car. When he called his friends that were supposed to arrive at the festival, they said they were hiding in a bomb shelter at the entrance to Kibbutz Mefalsim.
Having extensive knowledge of the area as a tour guide, Musaei took detours, driving off-road in order to avoid the traffic jams and crowds. Their frightening escape route included hiding out in the coffee chain, Aroma, with many others, and seeking refuge for a few hours at a Kibbutz, all while worrying about the state of his friends that were hiding in the bomb shelter along the route to Re'im.
Amit Musaei's friends that were murdered on the way to the Nova festival early in the morning on October 7. (Photo: Courtesy, Amit Musaei)
Tragically, Adir and Shiraz Tamam, and Céline Ben-David Nagar, didn't make it to safety. They were all brutally murdered at the Mefalsim bomb shelter, leaving behind their children, now all orphans. Adir and Shiraz left behind two young girls, and Céline left behind a baby.
Musaei's entire family was devastated with the news, since he and his wife and their daughters did everything together with Adir and Shiraz and their girls. They lived close to each other in the central city of Holon, just south of Tel Aviv, and were like family.
Shiraz and Adir Tamam (Photo: Courtesy, Amit Musaei)
Musaei immediately created a GoFundMe page to help support the Tamam orphans. The donation page has since been moved to JGive.
Gaza Border Tour to Sderot and Nova Music Festival
Musaei's full-day tour includes an explanation of the geopolitics of the area, a visit to the site of the battle at the Sderot police station, a stop at the "Car Wall" where the Nova site burnt cars have been moved, and the Nova music festival site.
"It's important for me to share the story, so people will know in general about October 7, more specific about the history that led to it, and also more specifically about the sad story of my friends that have not survived, and in total, left behind three orphans, two from the Tamam family and one is Celine Ben-David Nagar’s daughter," explained Musaei.
During one of his tours, Amit Musaei tells the story about his friends that were murdered on the way to the Nova festival early in the morning on October 7. (Photo: Courtesy, Amit Musaei)
Sderot Police Station
The city of Sderot in the Gaza Envelope was one of the cities that was hit hard, leading to a mass evacuation until recently. The police station was completely overtaken by terrorists, and is a monumental stop along the Gaza Envelope tour.
During one of his tours, Amit Musaei points to the site of the Sderot police station. (Photo: Courtesy, Amit Musaei)
Below is the site of the where the Sderot police station once stood. Terrorists stormed the building, massacred the officers inside and set the building ablaze. It has become a memorial and a monumental stop along the Gaza Envelope tour.
Site of the Sderot police station (as it appeared in February 2024 ) that was terrorized on October 7, killing the officers inside. (Photos: © Israel Sites and Sights / © Janis Raisen)
The Car Wall
One devastating image that is etched in everyone’s mind is that of the burnt cars at the Nova site parking lot, and along the highway. All of the cars that didn’t make it out were burnt through and through, some in the parking lot and others along the highway while people frantically tried to escape.
Tour guide Amit Musaei speaking to a group in front of the "The Car Wall." (Photo: Courtesy, Amit Musaei)
The cars were eventually moved to the site that is now referred to as "The Car Wall." This has become a stop along the Gaza Envelope tour to show the world another aspect of Hamas brutality from October 7.
Tour Options
Musaei's survivor testimony is part of his full-day tour. He can also meet people at the Nova site to share his survivor testimony without an actual tour. His tours have exceeded 500 participants since May 2024.
"I offer private and group tours. I take group tours that I build myself, taking total strangers on these excursions to the Gaza Envelope, also sharing my survivor story. I also offer my testimony on site as a survivor testimony only, without a tour, and I also have the virtual tour," Musaei explained.
During the pandemic he provided a wide-range of virtual tours when travel had essentially shut down, and he continued to do so for people who couldn't travel to Israel. His Gaza Envelope tour and survivor testimony are also offered via Zoom, which he has shared with over 1000 people to date.
Tour guide and Nova survivor, Amit Musaei, sharing his survivor story at the Nova site. (Photo: Courtesy, Amit Musaei)
There is a ongoing debate on social media among the locals about whether it's appropriate for tour guides to commercialize the Nova festival site, and other sites in the Gaza Envelope. Musaei explained that for him, it's about survival, both emotional and financial.
"I want people to know about how far the ripples hit, but it's mostly something that I'm finding, not curing me, but at least, allowing me to deal with my trauma and to replace the other alternative, which is to be unemployed, not active and depressed," Musaei explained. "It's the only active product in tourism right now, because there are no other tours. You cannot go to the Upper Galilee," he added.
When asked how he feels about other tour guides taking groups to the Nova music festival site, Musaei said he supports the idea as long as the tour includes hearing survivor stories.
"If they let the groups or the tourists meet with survivors, I think it's ok. I think it's important they have a mission, like I have a mission. If it's a tour guide that just brings people to see, I don't think it's a full bear-witness mission," explains Musaei. "You need to create an encounter. Sometimes those encounters are so random. They just happen if you visit the road, for example, but some of them you need to summon. So for my specific tour, I'm summoning myself. I work as a tour guide on the first part of the tour, and the second part of the tour I share my survivor story. I think it's an important mission. I would advise more and more tour guides to learn from me, or from others how to do it with respect, because now we have no tourism and I don't think it's a bad thing to work and to sell history."
"We have the opportunity and it's possible to visit the site of a massacre that happened less than a year ago. If something like the Holocaust would have happened nowadays, we would give the tour immediately to show the world. It's the same thing,"Musaei added.
Musaei would like to see the wave of Israel supporters continue to visit, and to hear about what the country has been enduring, with a positive look to the future. "I hope that they will find hope here, and that I will be able to convince them through my tours that everything that I believe in about the future of the State of Israel is true — that it's the safest place in the world for Jews."
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