It was the morning of October 7th when Ben Binyamin Shimoni, a 31-year-old from Ashkelon, arrived at the Nova party in this vehicle. This was after Jessica, Ben’s life partner, tried to convince him to stay with her for the weekend at home, but he really wanted to check out the party. This is one of the few times they spent their time apart – Jessica stayed at home and Ben came to the party alone in the SUV he owned, and met his friends there.

As the attack began, Ben tried to leave the party complex, but got stuck in the traffic jam at the exit. He decided to enter the complex with the car and pick up people who want to escape. He picked up four passengers into his vehicle and stormed through the compounds.

Ben dropped people off at Be’er Sheva and returned to the field. He picked up eight people he does not know into the car and drove again through the countryside, at top speed, to Netivot. They tried to convince him to stay with them in a safe place, but he was adamant to go back and search for his friends and rescue them.

Ben talked to his father Rafi, his mother Pnina, his brother Avinoam and Jessica from the road. They all tried to convince him to stay away from the danger zone and return home, but Ben insisted on returning to save his friends.

Ben also sent a message to. Gaya Khalifa, Ben’s friend who spent time at the party. At the time, she was still in the field with her friend Romi Leshem-Gonen. “Don’t come,” she wrote, “we are under heavy fire.” Ben decided to go rescue them.

Ben found Gaya, Romi and Ophir and picked them up picks up Gaya, Romi and Ophir Tsarfati, another escapee from the party who joined them. Near Kibbutz Alumim, they encountered terrorists.

Jessica, family and friends tried to reach Ben, sent him messages, but there was no response from him.

The late Ben Binyamin Shimoni and Gaya Khalifa were murdered on the spot. Romi Leshem-Gonen was kidnapped to Gaza and has been held captive by Hamas ever since, for over 300 days. Ofir Tsarfati was also kidnapped. On December 1st 2023, his body was discovered, and returned to Israel.