CINCINNATI — The Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, is day many will never forget, especially for those who were there.
Rom El’Hai can still hear the gunshots from that tragic day.
“I heard some of them shooting at the people. I heard people die, like their last breath like the soul come out of their body,” El’Hai said.
He was at the Nova Music Festival with his friends having fun, partying, in the early morning hours of Oct. 7.
He remembers how loud and happy people were.
“One of the biggest music festivals in In Israel,” he said.
But, everything changed at 6:30 a.m.
“I remember I was in the middle of the dance floor looking in the sky and I see rockets, exploding,” he said.
El’Hai said 30 minutes later a police officer came onto to the stage and told everyone to leave.
He had no idea what was going on.
“In Israel it’s regular, rockets from Gaza,” he said.
He got into a car with his friends, but became stuck in traffic as people ran out of their cars.
“I remember I saw three police officers at that time get inside into the forest with their guns out,” he said. “After a minute I saw from the side a red car driving very fast and crashing, three cars before us. One of the people came to the car, opened the driving door, and I saw a woman just fall to the ground and all her body was full of blood.”
They turned around, desperately trying to escape, but it was no use. They were trapped again.
“We’re stuck in traffic. I saw a police officer came in the middle of the road and just screamed ‘everybody get out of the car and run,” he said.
He hid behind some cars and that is when he heard gunshots.
Around 9 a.m., he received a call from his mom.
“I didn’t want to answer them because if we are in a shooting battle you don’t want to talk with your mom in that moment, but I thought if I don’t answer that phone they’re going to think I’m dead, so I did answer that phone, and I told her I’m with the military, I’m in a safe place, and there is a lot of people with us. I’m fine. In a few minutes it’s going to be end and then we come home, totally lie,” he said.
He was not safe, wanting to survive, he ran to the forest to hide.
“Then they started to shoot guns very, very loud and it was right next to us,” he said.
He did not see the terrorists, but he heard them shooting people. El'Hai tried to call the police for help.
“We [were] so lost. We tried to call the police. The police says you’re from the festival, we said yes, they say pray for your life,” he said.
El’Hai and his friends decided to travel East in the forest, a decision he said saved their lives. They frequently moved in the forest to avoid being found by Hamas. They were eventually found and were driven to safety.
El’Hai was able to travel to Cincinnati through the Faces of October Seventh Project. A group that emerged to allow survivors to share their stories.
El’Hai said it is important for him to be a part of this movement.
“Because everyone should know what happened there, everyone should remember because when we do that things won’t happen again,” he said.
El’Hai will travel to other states in the coming days to share his story with as many people as he can.
