A man died by suicide on Saturday at the gravesite of his close friend who was a victim of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre at the Nova music festival, highlighting the ongoing struggles that have resulted from the onslaught.

Bar Bechor Asraf, 30, from the Shaarei Tikva settlement, had been a close childhood friend of Liron Barda, 26, who worked as the bartending manager at the rave and refused to leave the site after terrorists invaded, instead staying behind to care for the wounded.

“They were inseparable. Twin souls,” the family told the Ynet news site. Barda was a frequent guest at Asraf’s home, and once flew to Colombia to surprise him while he was traveling there.

The family told Hebrew media that Asraf wasn’t the same after Barda’s murder. But on Wednesday, he danced and celebrated at his brother Maor’s wedding. His family said there were no signs then of what would follow just three days later.

Before he died, his sister Lihi told Ynet, “He told me how proud he was of me… I didn’t understand why he was saying all that to me.”

On Saturday afternoon, during a family celebration of their brother’s wedding, Lihi said, “Bar asked to go to the pool. We told him we didn’t have a membership, and he said ‘Okay.'”

She added, “When we couldn’t find him, we started to search on foot. We thought, ‘Where could he be?’ and we said we would go to Liron’s grave.”

She continued, “At first I didn’t see him. And then I saw him lying there. I shouted, ‘Bar, get up!’ but only then did I realize what had happened.........

© The Times of Israel