Nova massacre survivor commits suicide on her 22nd birthday

“The government needs to wake up. If it doesn’t, there will be more cases like this,” says late Nova survior’s brother.

By World Israel News Staff

A young woman who survived the Nova Festival massacre on October 7th committed suicide on her 22nd birthday, her family announced on Sunday evening.

Shirel Golan, who escaped from the largest slaughter of Jews in a single incident since the Holocaust, was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and had been struggling with her mental health in the year since October 7th.

According to her family members, Shirel hid in shrubbery for hours during the terror onslaught.

Eventually, she tried to escape from the festival in a car driven by her friends, but then exited the vehicle and entered a police car.

All 11 occupants of the civilian car were murdered by Hamas terrorists. Golan was one of some 200 survivors driven to safety in the police car by Officer Ramo Salman Abu-Zkeil.

Her brother, Eyal, said that the state had failed to provide Shirel with adequate psychological support, despite the family’s repeated attempts to get help for her.

“We are five siblings, and she was the youngest. The government needs to wake up. If it doesn’t, there will be more cases like this,” he told Ynet.

“If the state had provided proper care, this wouldn’t have happened. I’ve lost my sister, but I want to raise an outcry so others don’t lose their loved ones.”

Eyal told Channel 12 News that their “mother was forced to take early retirement to be next to her daughter. We didn’t move a millimeter from her, and the only time we left her alone was today, and she decided to take her own life.”

Abu-Zkeil said he was devastated by Golan’s death, saying they had been in touch nearly every day since her rescue.

“On October 7th, I can say that I did the everything I could to prevent the people I rescued from seeing horrors. But the screams, the gunshots, and the images of what happened are things none of us can forget,” he told Walla.

“As a police officer, I receive talk therapy with a psychologist from the state. But Nova survivors only get pills.”

The Ministry of Welfare and Social Services said in a statement that it “expresses deep pain over the untimely death of the Nova survivor, and shares in the grief of the family and the sorrow of the entire Nova community.”