Harrowing tale of survival of brother and sister who were shot and taken hostage at Nova festival on Oct. 7: God was with us
Maya and Itay Regev ran for their lives, were shot, taken hostage and endured torture after Hamas terrorists attacked the Nova music festival that they were attending on Oct.7.
And the siblings, age 22 and 19, say they only lived to tell their stories because “God was with us.”“October 7 was one big miracle, there were so many things that could have killed us that day,” Itay recently told a crowd in the Upper West Side.The siblings told the horrific tale of how they were captured by Hamas terrorists at a recent private New York event — describing in graphic detail how they were gravely wounded and then held in brutal conditions for weeks.Maya and Itay were partying with their friend Omer in the early hours of the morning of Oct.
7 when Hamas launched the deadly invasion that left 1,200 people dead — and changed the young Israelis’ lives forever.“I remember dancing with my friends, I look at the phone at 6:25 [a.m.] and I was like, ‘Oh my god we have so much time, we’re having so much fun,'” said Maya, at the event sponsored by Unit 11741, a charity that supports the Israeli military.Five minutes later, rockets began raining down from Gaza and police ordered the party to evacuate, warning that terrorists had infiltrated the music festival.Maya, Itay and Omer ran for an hour and a half on foot before the siblings were found by Hamas terrorists and shot.Maya, thinking she was going to die, frantically called her father, Ilan, for what she believed would be the last time the two would ever speak.“I told him I love him, they are coming to kill us,” she said.In his panic, Ilan took his weapon and tried to drive to the Nova Festival to rescue his children, but police stopped him.
The Regev siblings and their friend were subsequently grabbed by Hamas gunmen, thrown into the back of a pickup truck and hauled off to Gaza.Maya, Itay and Omer were dumped in a home in Gaza.
Itay and Omer were held together but Maya was taken to a separate floor.�...