PHILADELPHIA — An exhibit documenting the massacre at the Nova Music Festival and honoring those killed will be displayed in Philadelphia this week to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro joined other elected officials and Jewish leaders on Monday to unveil the traveling exhibit at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Old City, titled “The Moment the Music Stood Still.”

What was supposed to be a festive day of electronic music and outdoor dancing turned into a nightmare when Hamas militants stormed the festival grounds, killing more than 250 people and taking dozens of hostages. Photos and videos from the festival have circulated widely over the last year, but the exhibit looks to bring a more visceral re-telling to Philadelphia through objects recovered from the scene.

On display at the museum through Sunday are festival tents, with somber artifacts that include burned-out cars, a DJ booth, and bathroom stalls peppered with bullets, as well as personal belongings and video testimonials from survivors. Two fire-scorched vehicles will be displayed on the pedestrian plaza next to Independence Mall for the duration of the exhibit.

Shapiro, who helped bring the exhibit to Philadelphia, said the one-year anniversary of the attack should serve to honor the 1,200 people killed by Hamas, but also bring some “light in the midst of this darkness.”

“We can’t lose sight of the humanity here,” the governor said. “We can’t lose sight of the fact that innocent people were gunned down simply because they were at a concert in Israel. You can’t lose sight of the fact that there are still people who were taken hostage.”

Survivors of the Nova Music Festival have visited the Philadelphia region while touring the United States over the last year, and family members attended the exhibit’s unveiling on Monday. Sigal Manzuri recalled waking up on Oct. 7 to the deafening sound of sirens.

Her daughters Norelle, 25, and Roya Manzuri, 22, were at Nova festival with Norelle’s boyfriend, Amit Cohen, who had plans to propose to Norelle on her birthday in February, according to The Times of Israel.

On a panicked phone call, the trio told Manzuri they were seeking cover from gunfire. But then, all communication stopped.

She waited in torment as news of their deaths arrived, one by one.

“(It was) the most horrible news that any mother can receive,” Manzuri said, wearing three pins with the smiling faces of her daughters and would-be son-in-law. “Both of my daughters are buried.”

The exhibit’s opening is one of several commemorations being held Monday for the Oct. 7 anniversary, amid Israel’s ongoing retaliatory siege in Gaza that has killed at least 42,000 Palestinians. Cease-fire negotiations have stalled for months, and Israel now sits on the brink of a regional war with Iran and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D., Pa., who also attended the event, reaffirmed his support for Israel alongside Shapiro.

“This is a day of recommitment — recommitment to making sure that we’re doing everything possible to confront evil in the world, whether it’s the evil of terrorism, or the evil that resides in the human heart, all of which, unfortunately, were on display in the most awful horrific way on Oct. 7.”

_____

©2024 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.