Heartbreaking: Mother of Slain Nova Victim Takes Her Own Life in Second Suicide in Just Two Days

The tragic aftermath of the October 7th terror attack has claimed another life, underscoring the severe and ongoing mental health crisis gripping the families and survivors of the Nova music festival massacre. Yelena Giler, whose son Slava was murdered by Hamas at the festival, took her own life two years after the initial tragedy.

Yelena's surviving son, Sasha, spoke with profound grief about his mother's insurmountable pain. "That day broke her," Sasha recalled. "Since Slava’s murder, she couldn’t bear the pain anymore. She reached a point where I didn’t recognize her. She really lost touch with reality." Sasha revealed that since the attack, Yelena had been hospitalized every few months, indicating the relentless psychological damage she endured. Furthermore, the distress of being evacuated from their home in Kiryat Shmona likely compounded her suffering.

Sasha, who spent the night before with his mother and believed she seemed better, made a devastating discovery the following morning. "The next morning, she didn’t answer my calls. By 11 a.m. I called the police. They found her phone ringing inside the apartment and then found her lifeless on the couch." He described Yelena as "a loving woman who lived for her children," adding that "Life wasn’t kind to her, but she still gave us everything she could, even when she was falling apart inside."

A Deepening Crisis for Nova Families

Yelena's death came just two days after a similar tragedy. Roei Shalev, 30, a survivor of the Nova festival who lost both his girlfriend, Mapal Adam, and best friend, Hilo Solomon, also ended his life.

Roei's father, Ronen Shalev, spoke with anguish about the deep trauma affecting the entire community. He revealed that Roei's mother had also taken her own life shortly after October 7th, highlighting a disturbing pattern of psychological casualties among the bereaved. Ronen lamented the lack of adequate official support for those struggling with the unseen wounds of the massacre. "She was never officially recognized as a terror victim," he said of Roei's mother.

Ronen emphasized the massive scale of the trauma, stating, "There were 4,000 people at Nova, that’s 4,000 broken families, 4,000 survivors trying to hold on, with or without therapy, but barely surviving." He is now passionately advocating for the creation of a dedicated mental health program specifically for "the Nova families," which includes the parents, siblings, and survivors who continue to live with the unbearable echoes and memories of that horrific day. These back-to-back tragedies serve as a tragic confirmation that the physical war may be paused, but the psychological scars of the trauma are taking an ongoing, devastating toll.