The families of five Israelis murdered by Hamas on October 7 converged on the Nova music festival site to honour their loved ones and help cope with the enormous loss nearly one year after the massacre.

Ben Binyamin Cohen, Dor Toar, Tamar Gutman, Eden David Moshe and Yiftah Dan Twig, all 27-year-old long-time friends from Gezer, in central Israel, attended the festival together on that fateful Simchat Torah, now referred to as “Black Saturday”.

At around 7.45 am, they tried to escape the Hamas invasion by car to Kibbutz Be’eri, but were stopped on Route 232 by Israeli police officers at a roadblock erected just moments before they arrived. They were told it was not safe to be driving in that direction due to swarming terrorists. They turned around and headed back, where they met their tragic fate.

Daniel and Vera Moshe display a tattoo they both have in memory of Eden David Moshe (Photo: Amelie Botbol)

While little is known of their last moments, a video surfaced of Twig running towards a garbage container, where he hid for five hours. At one point, he heard a Gazan looter inform an armed terrorist that there were Jews hiding inside.

Realising the danger, Twig used his body to shield two girls from gunfire, saving their lives at the cost of his own.

Another video was found of Cohen, shot in the stomach, running towards Moshe as Hamas terrorists stormed the Nova site, where they butchered 364 revellers.

“Because Eden was killed on Sukkot, I will not build a Sukkah in my house,” his mother, Vera Moshe, told the JC at the massacre site.

“After Eden was killed, I did not want to continue living. He came to me in my dreams and said, ‘Mom, my siblings need you, my father needs you.’ I realised I couldn’t give up. We chose life because it’s what Eden would have wanted,” Vera said.

From left to right, Shalev Moshe, Vera Moshe and Daniel Moshe holding a poster of Eden David Moshe, murdered by Hamas on October 7 at the Supernova music festival (Photo: Amelie Botbol)

To keep her son’s memory alive, she has shared recipes of his favourite dishes, including spicy Moroccan fish and gluten-free strawberry cake, with the world. She also built a Garden of Eden (Gan Eden) outside her home, replete with flowers and a portrait of her son that shines with LED lights at night.

“Because of this garden, I decided to celebrate Rosh Hashanah in our home. Without Eden, I did not want to do it but now I will,” Vera said.

Due to the chaos and carnage of October 7, it took 19 days to identify the bodies of Cohen and Toar, and just under a month for Gutman.

“I was near the end of my pregnancy and did not want to put stress on my baby. I tried to remain as calm as possible and not think bad thoughts,” Gal Toar, Dor Toar’s sister, told the JC near the Gaza border.

“I gave birth three days before they identified Dor’s body. It was a rough transition between holding my daughter and dealing with grief. Those three days at the hospital, I thought that maybe it didn’t happen, maybe it all just wasn’t real,” she added.

Gal described her brother as positive and very strong mentally.

She noted the routine of him calling her after a night out with friends to grab a bite to eat.

“When I see my mother crying, I also start.

“It’s an unbearable situation for parents to bury their only son. Dor was murdered and it’s hard to be alone,” Gal said.

All five friends are buried in the same cemetery in Gezer, four of them side-by-side.

Poster commemorating October 7 victims Ben Binyamin Cohen, Dor Toar, Eden David Moshe, Yiftah Dan Twig and Tamar Gutman, at the Supernova Festival site (Photo: Amelie Botbol)

An exception was made for Gutman, who according to Jewish tradition would not otherwise be permitted to be buried next to a man to whom she was not married.

Cohen is buried in the section reserved for Cohanim.

“This year, we will leave an empty seat at the table for the holidays. Instead, every Friday [for Shabbat] I place a beautiful flowerpot I made with Ben’s name on it where he would have sat,” said Zahava Cohen, Ben’s mother. As Cohen was murdered right after Sukkot, one of the last memories his brother Tal has of the two of them is picking out a palm tree together, cutting its branches and transporting it back home to assemble their Sukkah, as they did every year.From a very young age, Cohen loved blowing the shofar. He shared a special bond with his grandfather who bought him a small one as a child, and then a much larger one when he was more mature.

“He was blowing the shofar for friends at weddings and parties. He did not take it to Nova somehow.

“This year, we bought shofars in his memory and will take them to synagogues to distribute them to children on Rosh Hashanah,” Zahava said.

“It’s very difficult to mark a year while we still have hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

“We must bring them back. My message to the Israeli people is that our force is in our unity.

“The moment we all come together, we will vanquish our enemies.”