Man kills himself on the grave of his girlfriend murdered by Hamas on Oct 7

A man whose girlfriend was killed at the Nova music festival at the hands of Hamas in the October 7, 2023, massacre shot himself dead at her grave after he found himself unable to cope with her absence. The Jerusalem Post reported Bar Asraf, a 30-year-old resident of Sha’arei Tikva, died by suicide, grieving Liron Barda, who worked as the bar manager at the festival.

His friends told Walla that Liron's death had left him lonely. His sister said he "loved talking there (at his grave) and being with her." So when he went missing at a wedding, they checked for him there and found him lying dead.

"We were at my brother's wedding. He apparently started to feel lonely. You couldn't tell. He was always happy and laughing," his sister, Lihi, told Walla. She added that Liron was his best friend. "He has a tattoo of her; she was a part of his soul," Lihi recalled. He left them at the wedding, and they thought he had gone to spend some alone time, like he usually did.

"An hour passed, then two hours passed, and my older sister said, 'Come on, we're going to look for him'," she said. First they checked in the logical places, and then they went to check Liron's grave.

Her sister had a bad feeling and told her, "You go." Lihi said, "I walked over, and suddenly I saw him lying next to Liron’s grave. I said to him, 'Bar, get up, what are you doing again...' and then I realised he was covered in blood." There was a gun lying next to him. "My father started CPR. I knew it was the end. He was cold... He died in the place he wanted to be most, with the woman he wanted to be with most,” she continued.

Lihi said that he was coping with Liron's absence well. But he had a “moment of madness, being alone while seeing everyone with their families.”

Liron tended to the wounded instead of running from the scene

On the fateful day of October 7, Barda, who worked as the bar manager, stayed to administer first aid to the wounded even as her friends and family begged her to flee. "On that day, he started driving toward Re'im to save her, until he realised there was no one left to save and they turned him back halfway," Lihi said.

His mother, Bracha, said that her son was a "good person, helped everyone. He bought food for those in need. A boy of giving, of love." She said Barda and Asraf were "soulmates since childhood." She added, "She was his listening ear. Everything to him. Every problem he had, she was his confidante."

Bracha said they noticed that he was struggling to live without Liron. "A little while ago, I saw him looking sad and asked what was wrong. He said, 'Mom, I'm sad. It's hard for me without Liron. I miss her. There's no one who can replace her, no one to cheer me up.'"