Bullets shot up desert sand and rockets exploded overhead as Astar Moshe ran for her life – and that of her unborn son.
Astar, 35, was three months pregnant and suffered from morning sickness on October 7.
But with Hamas terrorists hot on her heels, she continued sailing for more than 13 miles before finally reaching safety.
“Some kind of maternal instinct came over me,” she said exactly six months ago today about her ordeal at the now infamous Nova music festival.
“I would do anything to protect my child,” she said. ‘There was no way we were going to be killed. We were going to survive and that was it.”
Astar Moshe, 35, (left) pictured with her partner Shlomi Toby, 37, in hospital after the birth of their son Benaya Moshe
Insurance worker Astar gave birth to 6-pound Benaya Moshe two weeks ago. She and her partner Shlomi, a building maintenance manager, call him their ‘miracle’
Astar pictured left wearing a black hoodie with a blue logo and leggings at Nova Festival when the rocket fire started
Insurance worker Astar pictured at another music festival last year – not Nova Festival
Insurance worker Astar gave birth to 6-pound Benaya Moshe two weeks ago. She and her partner Shlomi, 37, a building maintenance manager, call him their ‘miracle’.
Astar told The Mail on Sunday: ‘When I found out I was pregnant we tried to cancel the festival tickets but couldn’t. So we thought, ‘Why not? Let’s have one last bit of fun.’ ‘
While at the festival, at 6:30 a.m. on October 7, the couple was startled by sirens and explosions.
Astar and Shlomi and friends in Moshav Patish, a settlement protected by the IDF, where they found refuge
A bullet hole in the car the couple tried to drive away from when the attack started at Nova Festival
A covered up bullet hole and a smashed window of the car they almost drove into before police told them to flee
“We decided to leave and get the car, but then we saw bullet holes in it and two police officers told us to run,” Astar recalled. “If we had driven away, we would have been executed, as all the first cars that left virtually did not survive.”
‘We didn’t know which way to run and we had no idea where we were going. There was smoke all around us, bombs were coming everywhere and they were shooting at us.”
At one point, Shlomi was sprayed in the face with sand from ricocheting bullets, but during a lull in the shooting he encouraged his fiancée to rest. “I told him if I was going to quit, that would be it, I couldn’t give up,” Astar said.
Finally, after running the equivalent of a half marathon, the couple arrived at a settlement protected by the Israeli army.
“I was in shock when we started to realize the magnitude of what was unfolding,” Astar said. “I thank my lucky stars that I wasn’t kidnapped to Gaza and had to give birth there.”