Shmuel Hugi (R) with his boyfriend Dennis, a member of the Israel Defense Forces. (Photo via Shmuel Hugi’s Instagram)
A man whose boyfriend is an officer in the Israel Defense Forces said Hamas militants killed several of his friends who were attending a music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
“I don’t know just one … I can’t even count right now,” Shmuel Hugi told the Washington Blade Oct. 10 during a WhatsApp interview from his home in Tel Aviv.
Hugi, 29, spoke with the Blade three days after Hamas, which the U.S. and Israel have designated a terrorist organization, launched a surprise attack against communities in southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.
He said upwards of 3,000 people were at the all-night Tribe of Nova music festival that was taking place near Re’im, a kibbutz that is three miles from the border between Israel and Gaza, when the attack began on Saturday at around 6:30 a.m. local time (11 p.m. ET on Oct. 6.)
Israeli officials say Hamas militants killed at least 260 people at the festival. They kidnapped what the Associated Press has reported as “a still undetermined number” of others and brought them back to Gaza.
Hugi said he received an invitation to attend the festival.
“My friends went there, some of them,” he told the Blade.
“I just heard the stories from the families and the survivors,” added Hugi. “They are terrifying.”
Hugi said he does not know anyone who the militants kidnapped and brought into Gaza. Many of his friends, however, have relatives who remain missing.
“They’re assuming they’re over there (in Gaza) because of no signs of life or contact or what happened,” said Hugi.
Militants killed hundreds in Sderot, Nahal Oz and other Israeli communities along the Gaza border. Hamas rockets have reached Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ben Gurion Airport and other locations in central and southern Israel. The AP reports IDF forces and Hezbollah, another militant group, have exchanged fire across the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Israeli airstrikes have killed hundreds of people inside Gaza. The Israeli government has cut electricity and water to the territory and has stopped food and fuel shipments.
Hugi and his boyfriend, Dennis, met a year ago. They live together in Tel Aviv.
“From the moment I saw him I knew he was going to be my husband,” Hugi told the Blade.
Dennis, 25, was on a weekend leave from IDF earlier this month when he and Hugi attended a “Pride festival party” for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Upwards of 20,000 people attended the event that Israeli DJ Offer Nissim headlined.
The party coincided with Dennis and Hugi’s birthdays, which are Oct. 2 and Oct. 3 respectively.
Hugi said the IDF was about to transfer his boyfriend to another assignment that would have allowed him to remain at home more often. Hugi told the Blade the commander who was going to replace him has been killed.
“Now we don’t know how he’s going to continue and how it’s going to affect our relationship and our plans for the future, but this is the smallest problem now,” he said.
Two of Hugi’s brothers are also in the IDF and have been deployed.
“I can’t say it’s easy,” said Hugi. “It’s not.”
Terror ‘has no place in our world’
The Aguda, the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel, and other groups across the country are working to support those who the war has impacted.
Hugi told the Blade that diapers are among the items he has donated. He also said he visited a Tel Aviv collection center where thousands of people were volunteering.
“On one hand we are scared, we are sad, we are mourning,” said Hugi. “On the other hand, we are taking this on our hands and trying to see how we can help.”
Hugi stressed he and other Israelis “are ready for anything.”
“We want the forces to complete their mission,” he said. “We already have too many lost, and we can’t just let it end this way, so we’re patient.”
Hugi added terror “has no place in our world.”
“They (the IDF) need to stop any ability of Hamas to do things like they just did,” he told the Blade. “Terror is a terror is a terror and I think the whole world should understand that we need to fight together as one fist against terror because today it’s in Israel.”
The Washington Blade will continue to cover the war between Israel and Hamas and its impact on the LGBTQ community. The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
