The Media Line: 2 Suicides in 2 Days Among Nova Festival Survivors and Families  

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2 Suicides in 2 Days Among Nova Festival Survivors and Families  

By The Media Line Staff  

A second tragedy in as many days has shaken Israel’s Nova Festival community, as two individuals connected to the October 7 massacre took their own lives around the second anniversary of the attack.  

On Thursday, 56-year-old Yelena Giler — mother of Slava Giler, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival — died by suicide, Hebrew media reported. Her son was among the hundreds killed during the assault that marked the beginning of the war in Gaza.  

“From that dark day, she was never the same,” wrote her Slava’s brother, Alex “Sasha” Giler, in a social media post mourning her death. Yelena will be buried beside Slava at the Karmiel Cemetery. Israel Hayom reported that the public was invited to attend and offer condolences to the grieving family.  

Her death came just one day before 30-year-old Roei Shalev, a survivor of the same massacre, also took his own life on Friday evening near Netanya. Shalev, who was shot and wounded while fleeing the festival, had witnessed his girlfriend, Mapal Adam, being fatally struck beside him.  

In his final Instagram post, Shalev wrote that he could no longer “bear this pain,” asking his loved ones not to be angry. “I’ve never felt such suffering in my life,” he wrote. “I just want this to end. I’m alive, but inside everything is dead.”  

He was last seen purchasing gasoline at a station before being found dead in a burning car hours later.  

Mapal’s sister, Israeli television personality Maayan Adam, expressed her anguish online: “Roei was murdered on October 7 and died yesterday. I have no words. I hope these two kids are hugging and smiling right now.”  

Shalev had remained active within the Nova survivors’ community but had endured profound personal losses — his girlfriend, a childhood friend named Hili Solomon, and his own mother, who died by suicide just two weeks after the massacre.  

In a December 2023 interview with Mako, Shalev said his mother had no prior mental health issues, adding that the trauma of that day “was simply too much for her to bear.”  

The Nova Community Association mourned Shalev’s death and urged continued attention to the mental health of survivors. “We have endured a lot of pain over these past two years,” the group said in a statement. “We survived it together, and together we will overcome and endure this unimaginable moment of grief.”