Twenty-two yr outdated Libby Cohen Meguri was already mortally wounded by Hamas terrorists when she made a last-minute cellphone name to her household to inform them how a lot she liked them.
Minutes later, she was murdered in a volley of photographs that her distraught mom, stepfather, twin brother, and youthful sister heard on the opposite facet of the cellphone.
The younger girl, described by her mom as ‘the happiest particular person this world has ever recognized,’ was one of many 1,200 victims murdered throughout Hamas’ assault in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
She was partying with associates on the Supernova music competition within the Negev desert, when armed militants stormed the border and reworked the celebration of life right into a massacre.
At 6.29am, the booming music was so loud that many revellers did not realise that rockets had been firing by means of the skies and motorised paragliders had been hovering by means of the air.
It was round that point that Libby referred to as her mom, Shelly Meshel-Yogev, telling her that she was heading house to the north with shut pal Adi Maizel – not mentioning the unprecedented terror assault.
Half an hour later, an alarm went off, and Hamas militants – garbed in physique armour and carrying AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades – arrived to the rave in vans and bikes, wreaking carnage.
At 8.11am, Libby rang her mom once more, calm and picked up, and advised her to usher the household across the cellphone in order that she might ship them probably the most painful information they’d ever hear.
Twenty-two yr outdated Libby Cohen Meguri was already mortally wounded by Hamas terrorists when she made a last-minute cellphone name to her household to inform them how a lot she liked them
The younger girl, described by her mom as ‘the happiest particular person this world has ever recognized,’ was one of many 1,200 victims murdered throughout Hamas’ assault in southern Israel on October 7, 2023
Libby’s mom, Shelly, information a video whereas sitting in entrance of pictures of her daughter who was murdered on October 7, 2023
That last cellphone name was eight minutes lengthy, throughout which the 22-year-old delivered a particular message of affection for every of her family members that she repeated like a mantra till the last spherical of gunshots.
‘Mum, they shot Adi within the head. She’s lifeless, subsequent to me. I used to be shot within the arm and abdomen. I’m dropping quite a lot of blood. I’m going to die,’ Libby advised her mom, as per an interview Shelly did with State of Tel Aviv.
Libby had been shot thrice and knew she did not have a lot time left, so made probably the most of each second she had together with her family members.
‘She advised me that I am the most effective mom she might have. She advised her father that she loves him a lot,’ Shelly mentioned.
‘She spoke together with her twin brother, after which together with her little sister, she advised everyone that she had the most effective household ever.
‘After which she mentioned: “They’re coming to shoot me once more”.’
On the opposite finish of the cellphone, her dad and mom heard the ultimate gunshots that stole away their daughter.
Once they initially heard rocket hearth, Libby and Adi desperately tried to get away from the scene of carnage in a automotive, however they had been shot by terrorists hiding by the facet of the highway.
Libby’s stepfather, Dr Yariv Yogev who heads the Lis Maternity Hospital, refused to imagine that she was about to die.
‘I inform her: “Hear, you aren’t going to die, put a bandage in your arm, drive straight up, run them throughout.”‘
Libby advised him she could not, so as a substitute he advised her to ‘lie down on the bottom and faux to be lifeless’.
‘Then we begin listening to some voices talking Arabic, gunshots, and that was it,’ he advised Israeli information outlet Mako.
Libby and her mom, Shelly, sharing a hug after the 22-year-old returned early from travelling in South America
That last cellphone name was eight minutes lengthy, throughout which the 22-year-old delivered a particular message of affection for every of her family members
‘Mum, they shot Adi within the head. She’s lifeless, subsequent to me. I used to be shot within the arm and abdomen. I’m dropping quite a lot of blood. I’m going to die,’ Libby advised her mom
She knew she did not have a lot time left so made probably the most of each second she had together with her family members throughout their final cellphone name
Libby accomplished her obligatory military service as an officer in an infantry unit, and had been spending time overseas in South America as a break
Shelly acquired a video of Libby mendacity lifeless on Route 232, the Israeli freeway the place many died that day, subsequent to her automotive, ‘like a canine that had been run over and its physique left on the highway,’ she mentioned.
‘I acquired this video, I recognise Libby, I believed you’ll wish to know,’ somebody wrote to the distraught mom.
She blames the Israeli police for making a ‘demise entice’ on the freeway by blocking the highway, inflicting a ‘loopy site visitors jam’ that she mentioned prevented partygoers from escaping the bloodbath within the south.
If the police hadn’t blocked roads on October 7, the 3000 terrorists who stormed the border could have made it deeper into the nation, reported Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
On the our bodies of terrorists, police recovered maps with different targets for assault marked, together with Ashkelon, Tel Aviv, the Tel Nof air base and the nuclear reactor at Dimona.
However some blockades had been catastrophic for Israelis making an attempt to flee Nova, the outlet claimed, who obtained fatally caught up in Hamas crossfire.
Libby was ‘the solar, the love, the laughter of our lives,’ her mom mentioned in a video revealed by the Consulate Basic of Israel to Atlanta.
‘All we would like is for you to not overlook Libby: so please, be together with her, and don’t forget her.’
She was certainly one of virtually 400 younger individuals who had been massacred on the out of doors celebration simply three miles from the Gaza border, on the grounds of Kibbutz Re’im.
The rave had been billed as ‘a journey of unity and love’ with ‘mindblowing and breathtaking content material’; its location had been a secret within the run-up, however partygoers had been promised a competition in a spot ‘gorgeous for its magnificence’.
For weeks, lovers of trance – a kind of digital dance music characterised by hypnotic melodies and wealthy atmospherics – had been trying ahead to Nova, which coincided with the top of the week-long Jewish competition of Sukkot.
Libby was certainly one of them. She accomplished her obligatory military service as an officer in an infantry unit, and had been spending time overseas in South America as a break – however she made certain to chop her journey brief in time for the competition.
Her dad and mom did not know she was returning house, and so she gave them the most effective shock by coming to Israel early after seven months of travelling.
She and her mom embraced with tears of pleasure that morning, as they shared a long-awaited hug within the household front room.
A seize from a UGC video posted on Telegram on October 9, 2023, reveals an armed Palestinian militant main a person in the course of the Supernova music competition
Noa Argamani reacts as she and her accomplice Avinatan Or, not pictured, are seized by members of the Hamas militant group throughout an incursion into Israel on Saturday, October 7, 2023
A screengrab of Libby dancing with associates, posted by her mom Shelly on an Instagram account devoted to honouring the reminiscence of the 22-year-old
One other screengrab of Libby dancing amongst associates, posted on-line by her mom Shelly
On October 6, a day earlier than the celebration, Libby had a fever, and her dad and mom begged her to remain house, however the 22-year-old was decided to bounce together with her associates by means of the night time.
‘I’m going to bounce to trance music. And even when I die, dance to trance music for me,’ she advised her household as she walked by means of the door defiantly.
Playful defiance was certainly one of Libby’s foremost traits, as exemplified by the way in which she’d generally skip faculty to run to the ocean within the mornings – a spot the place she felt ‘the freest, the happiest,’ her mom wrote in a shifting publish on social media, devoted to her reminiscence.
Ever since she was murdered, her household have taken over her Instagram account and reworked it right into a remembrance web page the place Shelly pens heartbreakingly lyrical letters to her daughter.
On the time of Libby’s demise, the account had 1,200 followers. Now, it has virtually 120,000.
In poetic posts devoted to her daughter, Shelly usually refers to Libby as ‘my coronary heart’ – the which means of the Hebrew translation of her title.
In a single notably emotional publish, Shelly described her ache and incapacity to sleep at night time in vivid phrases: ‘Perhaps that is what a coronary heart assault looks like? After which comes the realisation – my coronary heart is lifeless, the little, lovely, beloved physique of my lady is buried, it truly is a coronary heart assault – my coronary heart was attacked with bullets of ache, the grief attacked the center, the longing slowly destroyed it, the realisation that my coronary heart gained’t come again destroys my coronary heart and hurts it a lot.’
Libby was buried within the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in north Tel Aviv, and her headstone reads: ‘Our solar was extinguished.’
Ever since her demise, the household has organised an annual trance celebration at a nightclub in Tel Aviv in her honour, referred to as ‘Libby’s Get together’.
A memorial for Libby at Re’im parking zone close to Re’im, the place the competition happened on October 6–7, 2023
She was partying with associates on the Supernova music competition within the Negev desert, when armed militants stormed the border and reworked the celebration of life right into a massacre
The occasion captures the younger girl’s joyful spirit. Libby liked to be lively – whether or not that meant mastering salsa in South America, successful equestrian championships together with her horse, Sebastian, or dancing with associates to trance.
You may discover photographs, stickers and magnets of the 22-year-old all throughout Israel – out there to choose up from 50 assortment factors – because of the in depth efforts of her household to immortalise her reminiscence.
Within the month after Hamas’ bloodbath, Shelly based a charity referred to as ‘Libby Itach’, which interprets to ‘Libby my coronary heart is with you’.
Up to now, the not-for-profit has organised a canine adoption day on the shelter the place Libby volunteered, and a ‘ropes course’ day for youngsters with autism.
When Libby was within the IDF, she all the time made certain to ask lone troopers again to her household house for meals and luxury.
To hold on her legacy, ‘Libby Itach’ works to assign non-public medical doctors to lone troopers throughout Israel, offering them with care freed from cost.
Her stepfather, Yariv, advised the Kan public broadcaster: ‘God sprinkled Libby with charisma powder.’
‘She might by no means be passive about any struggling, or any weak spot in society,’ he mentioned. ‘To anybody who wanted assist.’
He’s the director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Division at Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv. After his stepdaughter’s demise, his colleagues instructed naming a trauma clinic for ladies after Libby as a technique to keep in mind her.
‘The clinic precisely embodies what Libby had,’ Yogev mentioned. ‘Her capability to offer, to be very, very delicate to the wants of different folks.’
‘She was a bit of vitality, glad, gentle, and laughing, from the second she woke within the morning till the second she went to sleep,’ her mom advised Channel 12.
