It started as a party—a night of freedom and joy. Shir and Esther arrived at the festival near the Gaza border with high energy and excitement. Within minutes, they found themselves running for their lives, dodging bullets, with one young man—Uri—choosing to risk everything to save them.
The short film Avudim Hayinu (We Were Lost), produced by Rega Shel Chochma, retraces the unbelievable step-by-step moments of survival during the terror attack on the Nova music festival.
“God passed over me”
“I don’t even know how to explain the fact that I’m sitting here right now. It’s an insane miracle,” says Shir. “Bullets pierced the seat, but didn’t hit me. There’s no logical explanation. God passed over me. There’s no other way to describe it.”
Shir and Esther fled under gunfire, fell into multiple ambushes, and watched bullets tear through their car again and again—without hitting them. “Esther made a really brave, wild decision,” Shir says. “She just floored the gas and drove through the terrorists, zigzagging between them.”
“You’re going home”
Their car was eventually disabled. On foot and panicked, they came across Uri. “I hear him talking to his father on the phone,” Shir recalls. “He says: ‘Dad, I’m not staying here. I’m breaking through. Anyone who stays will die.’”
She approached him: “Please, can you help me?”
“Of course,” Uri replied. “What kind of question is that?… girls, I promise—you’re going home.”
They joined Uri, who drove under heavy gunfire. “He told us, ‘There will be gunfire—duck, don’t panic.’” Shir adds, “That was the first moment all day I felt calm. I felt like someone was watching over me. I felt safe.”
Uri charged through the terrorist barricade: “He ran them down. Hit two out of five and sent them flying.”
Then, they were hit.
“He got shot in the arm… a bullet grazed his head. The car flipped and landed in a ditch near Kibbutz Mefalsim.”
“He smiled—and turned up the radio”
“I opened my eyes,” Shir says. “I realized I was the only one conscious… his body was full of bullets. I just looked to God and said: ‘Is this really happening to me?’” Esther woke up too—but the two could hear at least 60, 70, maybe 80 terrorists around them.
“We heard the gunfire, the loading of weapons, screams… sheer terror.”
Then came Uri’s final moment. “He looked at Esther, smiled, and turned the radio from volume zero to one hundred. The terrorists reached the car window… and executed Uri in front of us.”
“I have to see myself as someone who left Egypt”
After what felt like an eternity in the ditch, Shir crawled out: “I told God—this is Yours. I’m going. I don’t even know who I am anymore. From now on, You’re in charge.” She found soldiers—and collapsed.
Later, Esther was also rescued. They begged the soldiers to go back for Uri, but were told: “Girls, those who are alive are alive. Those who are dead are dead. We need to move now.”
Shir concludes: “I truly have to see myself as if I left Egypt. This was the most intense experience of my life. That day, I was freed. That day, I learned what truth is. I learned what faith really is. What it means to believe in God.”
