WITH nothing more than a broken beer bottle to defend himself, British-Israeli Aner Shapira faced an onslaught of live grenades from Hamas terrorists.
It was October 7, 2023 – a day that will go down in history books as one of the deadliest atrocities carried out against young civilians by militants in recent years, marking the onset of full-scale war.
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British-Israeli Aner Shapira (top) fighting back against grenade-wielding terrorists Credit: Supplied
Aner pictured enjoying the Nova music festival before Hamas terrorists struck Credit: supplied
Not long before, as the sun rose in the early hours, joyful revellers, among them the courageous 22-year-old, danced to trance music. Then the sky filled with rockets.
At the Nova festival, in desert scrubland three miles from the border with Gaza, there was no immediate cause for panic.
Most of the young people were accustomed to rocket fire that usually ended as quickly as it began.
Aner, on leave from serving in an elite unit within the Israeli Defence Forces, returned to his campsite to gather belongings with pals, including his best friend, an American-Israeli called Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
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The group took one last selfie, relaxed and smiling, before going their separate ways.
But Hamas fighters had infiltrated Israel’s border in multiple locations. They were surrounding the festival’s 3,500 attendees from all angles.
Gunmen began rampaging through the crowds. They shot fleeing civilians in their cars and set vehicles alight.
Witnesses and investigators later described horrific acts of rape, sexual violence and mutilation during the massacre.
Aner contacted his army commander to understand what was happening.
With Hersh, he ran to Route 232. They were among the last to take refuge in a small roadside public bomb shelter with no door, already packed with other young people.
“Hi everyone,” Aner announced. “I am Aner Shapira. I serve in the Orev unit of the Nahal Brigade. My friends from the army are coming soon. I am going to take care of things here, so don’t worry.”
Aner’s father, Moshe, tells The Jattvibe: “He told them that he’d try to throw back the grenades if the terrorists started [to attack] but he said, ‘If something happens to me, you will have to continue’.
“He was willing to give his life and he stood against the terrorists, unarmed with love for people he had met just a few minutes before.”
Armed fighters closed in.
Packed into the shelter with 26 other festival-goers, Aner stood at the entrance while others lay on the ground in terror.
A Muslim security guard, Osama, was tortured to death.
Grenades were thrown – the terrorists lobbed them into the shelter repeatedly.
For a hellish 34 minutes, Aner hurled them back outside.
A camera on a nearby car dashboard captured Aner’s heroic actions before he was killed.
The eighth explosion – believed to be a rocket-propelled grenade – was the most powerful.
A Hamas soldier throwing grenades into a bomb shelter during the Oct 7 attacks Credit: Twitter – TreyYingst
Parents Moshe and Shira (above) discovered details of how Aner battled until his final breath Credit: Supplied
When news of the massacre reached the Shapira family, Moshe, 55, and his Oxfordshire-born wife Shira, 50, prayed their son would return home safely.
“We didn’t know if he’d survived but survivors reached out to us, before we heard from the army and the police,” Moshe says. “They told us what he’d done.
“We went to all the hospitals, searching for him. I was optimistic.
“I believed, until the last moment, that my son might be alive, or even, if he was injured, that he would come back to us.”
Five days later, the family received devastating news. Two officers arrived late at night saying Aner’s body had been identified.
“For those five days I was praying. In that moment you then understand you have nothing to hope for,” he says, his voice breaking off.
Only weeks ago, Moshe learned new details about his son’s final moments.
“[In footage] you can hear him saying ‘no, no’ and then you hear a big explosion. We thought he died from that – the eighth rocket-propelled grenade.
“But two months ago the army told us that he didn’t die then.
“They had looked at other footage. They told us that the rocket badly injured one of his hands but that he succeeded in throwing another two or three grenades back out after that, so 10 or 11, before taking a bullet to his head.”
Aner was one of 413 people slaughtered at and around the Nova Music Festival that day.
Many more were wounded, and dozens were taken hostage into Gaza.
Among them was Hersh, who was murdered 11 months later in captivity. His body was found alongside five other hostages in a tunnel in Gaza.
Aner is buried at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem – Israel’s national cemetery.
Rockets flying over Nova music festival ahead of gunmen’s savage attacks Credit: Supplied
Hamas terrorists torched cars and attacked innocent young people hiding in bomb shelters Credit: Reuters
Moshe vividly recalls his final time with his son.
The Shapira family, both architects, had recently moved into a new apartment over-looking Jerusalem.
It was the last day of the Jewish holiday, Sukkot, and they were sharing a family meal.
One of their seven children had just turned 21.
“We’d just bought a new table for the balcony that we have, and we all sat outside,” he says.
“It was terrific weather, it was the first meal we’d had in our new apartment, with only us and the seven kids – so it was fantastic.
“Aner said, ‘Mum and dad, I want to tell you, it’s lovely, the house that we have. Thank you.’ Before that we played ping pong on the roof.
“That’s the first time I ever succeeded in beating him a game and he gave me some compliments so that was nice,” Moshe, 55, says, laughing warmly.
Aner’s legacy still burns brightly. He was a talented singer and songwriter, as well as an artist, who planned to do music full-time after the army.
Every birthday since, on the 12th March in the Christian calendar, his family has released an album of his music in his memory.
They have also worked with Israeli stars to complete unfinished songs, and are planning a festival in his honour.
“He was full of creativity and we wanted his creativity to be his legacy so we continue it through his music,” Moshe says.
“There’s a song he wrote called ‘Seeking For Love’ and it’s about seeking for love between God and all humans and all nations. In it he sings about being a person who believes in change.
“That was his ideology. He hated the army. He only did it to help save other people’s lives. He felt a better world would be one without armies but he would protect if required.
He didn’t like classifying people by political belief or religion. He didn’t vote in elections. He was an anarchist in his approach.”
There is an unbreakable bond between the Shapira family and others affected that day.
It was Aner’s heroic actions that helped save some of the people in the shelter that day.
“We feel very connected to all of them,” says Moshe. “It’s a huge gift, that although Aner gave his life, there are ten people that are living thanks to him and it’s a great thing, and we love them.”
The Nova Exhibition London recreates the campsite and the shelter where Aner made his final stand. Credit: George Pimentel
Those who lost their lives, including brave Aner, are paid tribute to Credit: George Pimentel
In August, the Shapiras will attend the wedding of survivor Ziv Abud and her partner Eliya Cohen, who was taken hostage at Nova and later released as part of a hostage deal.
“In Jewish tradition you make an agreement between the couple – called the Ketubah – and you decorate it. It’s a very old tradition and I’m designing this for them,” Moshe explains.
“The Rabbi will read it in the ceremony and it’s such a huge honour to have been asked. Through us, it feels like it’s a way in which Aner is still involved in some way with the wedding.”
Hersh may have died afterwards, but his connection to the family remains.
“We are neighbours with Hersh’s family,” says Moshe. “We live a few blocks away.
“Hersh went to the same high school, the same youth movement and we are in contact [with his parents] all the time.”
Today, the Shapiras are in the UK to attend an immersive exhibition about Nova in East London.
It is a highly emotive tribute to those killed from countries including the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy, combining survivor testimony, personal belongings and reconstructed elements of the festival site.
Visitors will experience a recreation of the grounds, including tents and the shelter where Aner made his final stand.
Net proceeds will go towards the healing journey of the survivors and the bereaved families.
Since launching in Tel Aviv in 2024, the exhibition has travelled internationally and been visited by figures including Diplo, Usher, Will Ferrell, David Schwimmer and Kristen Bell.
“What happened on October 7th is not a political question. Christians, Muslims, Hindus – there isn’t any religion that exists in that region of Israel that wasn’t slaughtered at that period,” says Moshe.
“On the other side is the goodness of Aner which emphasises what humanity is supposed to be.
“I think about him every day,” says Moshe. “When I wake up, when I go to sleep.
“He is everywhere in our home. We hear his music all the time. We have his drawings all over.”
Most symbolically is the last photograph ever taken.
“We have a big picture of him standing at the entrance to the shelter. It’s an amazing picture that was taken by one of the survivors.
“I think it’s the most heroic picture that I myself have ever seen.
“For him there can’t be something more suitable, for this last battle of his life, than behaving like the best soldier that could ever have been, but without using guns but to protect only with his heart and his values.
“I’m so proud of what he, and others like him, did that day.”
Nova Exhibition London opens in Shoreditch, East London, on Wednesday 20 May. For more information visit www.novaexhibition.com.
