Grieving family members plant seedlings at site of Hamas’s Supernova massacre
Some 1,000 in total join JNF project, planting 200 seedlings at site of Oct. 7 rampage in Re’im; relatives hope to bring new life to scene of onslaught
Some of the bereaved families whose loved ones were killed in a Hamas rampage at the Supernova music festival joined a Jewish nature project group on Sunday for a special tree-planting event at the site.
Around 1,000 people planted about 200 seedlings in the scorched earth of the Re’im parking lot, where thousands of young people were partying in the dawn hours of October 7, when scores of armed Palestinian terrorists swept in.
At the festival, 364 people were shot, bludgeoned or burned to death at the Supernova festival in a stretch of tree-dotted brush near Kibbutz Re’im. Another 40 people were taken hostage by Hamas back to the Gaza Strip, 5 kilometers (2 miles) away.
It was the bloodiest incident in the devastating onslaught by the terror group, which killed a total of 1,200 people and triggered a major Israeli operation aimed at eliminating Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since taking over in a bloody coup in 2007.
The tree planting came days ahead of the Jewish holiday of Tu Bishvat, or the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat, also called the Jewish new year for trees, and is marked by a festive meal featuring fruits and nuts.
The day also doubles as an ecological awareness day in Israel, marked by tree planting.
“I still can’t believe that we are planting a tree instead of hugging our child,” Ela Bahat, whose son Dror was killed at the festival, told Reuters.
Family members wept while planting trees with the Jewish National Fund, hoping to bring new life to the scene of death and desecration.
“We buried him four days after on October 11, and this was the first day of the rest of our lives,” Bahat’s father Idan said. “I really hope that in any way, that, from upstairs, they will bring some peace to earth.”
