The Iron Lions

Sahar Ben Sela (30) was the security director of the Nova party. He recalls, in tears, how this party turned into a mass slaughter.

“They butchered us from point blank. Animals, they shot us, and you could tell they were enjoying this, laughing all the way.”

Sahar hid inside a concrete structure that was infiltrated by a terrorist, and was saved by a miracle.

“The worst moment was when I was trying to start my patrol vehicle while my friend was trying to resuscitate his friend. She was looking at me with open eyes. I understood she was dead.”

“It all began when they stopped the music. We were told there were alarms going off. After a couple of minutes, the party’s producers started screaming that terrorists were attacking. We were 11 or 12 guys, and quickly hopped on three vehicles and started driving north, thinking where to run. People were under the influence while being fired at, total chaos.”

“We were driving 100-120 KMH in rough terrain, between people. Police officers told us to turn back at every intersection, while we were seeing the terrorists arriving with their trucks and shooting at us. We reached the concrete structure, and an armed police officer stopped us and told us to go inside. He said there was nowhere to run. There were 30 of us there, more or less.”

“After a few minutes they started shooting at us and neutralized the officer. They threw the first hand grenade, and it exploded at the entrance. We were all screaming, praying and shouting with agony, and then a second grenade was thrown, this one hitting my head. I was close to the wall, and the grenade flew onto the bodies in the back. They took the impact and that is what saved us.”

“Then, a girl tried to escape because she was suffocating inside. Her partner and I tried to grab her, but we couldn’t, and she ran into the terrorist, getting shot from point blank. After that the terrorist went in, and started shooting with what I think was an Uzi rifle. Everyone who was in the first and second row, apart from me, died. I took a bullet to the elbow and shrapnel to my leg and ribs. I think he had a gun jam, because I remember the sound of the jam, and he ran out. I went after him, looking for a gun on the floor, but I couldn’t find one. Then they opened fire at us again, this time from a distance. I ran to the patrol vehicle and heard its radio. I looked for a gun inside but still couldn’t find one. I went on the radio and requested backup from the police, saying we had people injured and dead. The officer went on the line and told me to run.”