Grief-Driven Tragedy: Oct. 7 Survivor Dies at Lover’s Grave

An Israeli survivor of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Bar Asraf, 30, reportedly killed himself at the graveside of his girlfriend Liron Barda, who was killed during the Nova Festival massacre nearly three years earlier. Barda, 26, worked as a bartender at the festival; Asraf had stayed close to her family and memorialized her, but his death at a cemetery in Elkana, West Bank, underscores the ongoing grief among survivors. The report follows prior suicide cases among Oct. 7 survivors and notes a 2024 Times of Israel count that nearly 50 Nova Festival survivors died by suicide in six months after the massacre, with mental health resources such as the 988 Lifeline available.