‘Childhood soulmate’ of Nova festival victim found dead beside her grave
Bar Asraf was discovered at the burial place of Liron Barda, who gave first aid until she was murdered on 7 October
A grief-stricken 30-year old Israeli man has been found dead at the graveside of his best friend, who was murdered by Hamas at the Nova festival on 7 October 2023.
Warning – this article includes descriptions of scenes of a highly distressing nature, including information regarding a suicide.
According to Israeli media reports, Bar Asraf shot himself on Sunday 2 August at the grave of Liron Barda, who was murdered at the Nova festival.
Barda, who was working as the bar manager at the music festival in Re’im, refused to flee the massacre despite being begged to do so by family and friends. Instead she stayed to provide first aid to the wounded, until she was murdered herself.
According to reports, Bar, who was not at the festival, tried to drive toward Nova to save her, but was turned back before he could reach her. Sitting with her family, he waited for three days to learn of her murder.
Speaking to online news site Walla, his sister Lihi said: “We were at my brother’s wedding. He apparently started to feel lonely. You couldn’t tell. He was always happy and laughing. His best friend was murdered in Nova. He has a tattoo of her, she was a part of his soul. At the groom’s celebration, there was dancing and a Shabbat reception with a singer; it was magical. We were at the peak of the family’s life.”
She adds: “Yesterday he left, and I thought he went to be alone and think like he usually does. An hour passed, then two hours passed, and my older sister said, ‘Come on, we’re going to look for him.’ First in the most logical places, and then we went to check Liron’s grave. He loved talking there and being with her.”