Israeli survivors of 7 October concert seek $56m in damages from security forces

A group of survivors injured at Israel’s Supernova music festival on 7 October initiated legal action yesterday against the occupation state’s security forces, reported the Times of Israel.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages of 200 million shekels ($56 million) at the Tel Aviv District Court, accusing the Shin Bet security service, the Israel Defence Forces, Israel Police and the Defence Ministry of negligence.

On the day of the concern, Palestinian resistance fighters infiltrated the Gaza-Israel fence and raided a number of towns and villages around the besieged enclave. A total of 1,139 people were killed on that day. Since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had in fact killed many of the soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by Palestinians. It was also revealed that the Palestinian resistance factions had no prior knowledge of the Nova music festival prior to their infiltration of Israel.

“A single phone call by IDF officials to the commander responsible for the party to disperse it immediately in view of the expected danger would have saved lives and prevented the physical and mental injuries of hundreds of partygoers, including the plaintiffs,” the lawsuit stated. “The negligence and the gross oversight is beyond belief.”

The lawsuit included several claims such as loss of income, pain and suffering, deprivation of life’s joys, future earnings loss and medical expenses. Referring to post-massacre reports, the claim highlighted concerns voiced by senior officers in the Gaza Division about the party and the opposition from the operations commander against hosting the event.

Moreover, the lawsuit mentioned that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar held consultations the night before and dispatched a special operations team to the Israel-Gaza fence in anticipation of the impending onslaught.

“On the night between October 6 and October 7, at least two IDF assessments were held due to unusual incidents on the Gaza Strip border, one near midnight and another assessment close to 3 am, several hours before the Hamas attack,” the lawsuit read.

One of the plaintiffs described in the lawsuit that he “escaped with his friend under massive fire. They were exposed to horrific scenes, including bodies lying on the road, and even had to run over them to escape. In the end, they arrived at a factory in Ofakim, where they hid for 12 hours under fire.”

READ: Report: 7 October testimonies strike major blow to Israeli narrative