Another tragic Oct. 7 suicide: Two years after losing her son at the Nova festival, Yelena ends her life

Yelena’s surviving son described his mother as “a loving woman who lived for her children.”

By Jewish Breaking News

Two years after her son Slava was murdered by Hamas at the Nova music festival, Yelena Giler has taken her own life. Her surviving son, Sasha, said the loss shattered her beyond repair.

“That day broke her. Since Slava’s murder, she couldn’t bear the pain anymore. She reached a point where I didn’t recognize her. She really lost touch with reality,” Sasha recalled.

Since then Yelena was hospitalized every few months after the attack. “She took his death very hard,” Sasha said. “Being evacuated from Kiryat Shmona didn’t make it easier.”

Sasha said he spent the night before with her and thought she seemed better.

“The next morning, she didn’t answer my calls. By 11 a.m. I called the police. They found her phone ringing inside the apartment and then found her lifeless on the couch.”

He described his mother as “a loving woman who lived for her children,” adding, “Life wasn’t kind to her, but she still gave us everything she could, even when she was falling apart inside.”

Yelena’s death came just two days after another tragedy — Roei Shalev, 30, who survived the Nova festival massacre but lost his girlfriend Mapal Adam and best friend Hilo Solomon, also ended his life.

His father, Ronen, spoke with anguish about the deep trauma haunting survivors and their families.

“Roei’s mother also took her own life shortly after October 7,” Ronen revealed.

“She was never officially recognized as a terror victim. There were 4,000 people at Nova — that’s 4,000 broken families, 4,000 survivors trying to hold on, with or without therapy, but barely surviving.”

Ronen now hopes to see the creation of a dedicated mental health program for what he calls “the Nova families” — parents, siblings, and survivors still living with the unbearable echoes of that day.