ELKANA, ISRAEL (THECOUNT) — Bar Asraf, 30, an survivor of the October 7, 2023 Nova music festival massacre in Israel, was found dead Saturday at the grave of his girlfriend, Liron Barda, 26, in the West Bank settlement of Elkana. Israeli media reported Asraf died by suicide nearly three years after Barda was killed during the Hamas-led attack.
According to Israeli news outlet JFeed, Asraf was discovered Saturday at Barda’s gravesite. Authorities have not publicly released additional details surrounding the circumstances of his death.
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Barda was working as a bartender at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen launched their attack on the event. According to previously reported accounts from her family, she chose to remain behind to assist wounded festival goers despite being urged by her father to flee the area. She was among the hundreds of people killed during the massacre.
Reports indicate Asraf maintained a close relationship with Barda’s family following her death, regularly visiting her parents and continuing to honor her memory in the years that followed.
The October 7, 2023 attack on the Nova music festival was part of the wider Hamas assault on southern Israel. The attack left hundreds of festival attendees dead and many others taken hostage, with survivors continuing to cope with lasting psychological trauma.
Israeli authorities have not announced any additional findings related to Asraf’s death.
Elkana is an Israeli settlement in the central West Bank, west of Ariel and approximately 25 miles east of Tel Aviv. The Nova music festival was held near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel, close to the Gaza border.
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