The Israeli couple in this selfie were not killed by Hamas militants during the Nova music festival attack - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 12, 2023
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it shows a picture capturing the last moments of an Israeli couple who were allegedly killed by Hamas militants during the Nova Trance Music Festival attack. Following the Hamas militants attack at the Tribe of Nova Music Festival, leaving hundreds of Israeli citizens dead, the photo is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Selfie picture of an Israeli couple allegedly killed by Hamas militants during the Nova Trance Music Festival attack.
Fact: The photo shows Amit Bar and Nir, the couple among the attendees at the Tribe of Nova music festival. They took this selfie while they were taking cover in the bushes to evade Hamas militants. However, both individuals are still alive and have shared their horrific ordeal in escaping from the Hamas militants. Sharing her terrifying experience after Hamas militants attacked the Nova Music festival, Amit Bar shared this picture on her Instagram handle. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found in an article published by the Mirror news site on 10 October 2023. The article reported it is a selfie taken by Amit Bar and Nir, the couple among the attendees at the Tribe of Nova music festival, while they hid in the bushes to escape from Hamas militants after the attack. The article reported that the couple had survived the tragic attack by Hamas militants at the Nova music festival on 09 October 2023.
On 09 October 2023, Hamas militants infiltrated Israeli territory and launched an attack on the Nova Music festival which was held in a desert area near the border between Gaza and Southern Israel. Amit Bar shared this photo on her Instagram handle narrating her terrifying experience after the Hamas militants attacked the Nova Music festival.
Speaking about the selfie in the Instagram post, Amit Bar said, “You (Nir) suddenly decided to take a selfie, I became angry, I didn’t understand what the connection was,  but you said that at least if we die, our family will have a souvenir that we loved until the last moment. You protected me and I think of all the other couples with a different ending than ours..”
A post shared by Amit Bar (@amit_bar_)
Responding to her Instagram post, Nir replied- “My wife can’t imagine what would happen to me if something happened to you… All that remains is to pray that our Ziv returns safely and all the missing friend.”
Later, Amit Bar spoke to N12 media and shared their horrific ordeal in escaping from Hamas militants and expressed concerns about her missing friend Ziv. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the couple seen in the photo are still alive and were not killed by Hamas militants.
To sum it up, the Israeli couple in the selfie were not killed by Hamas militants during the Nova music festival attack.