Oct. 7 survivor reveals what life is like today as grim tragedies persist

A woman who barely escaped with her life Oct. 7, 2023, has revealed the excruciating emotional battle she and other survivors are still fighting, weeks after one of them took his own life.

Maayan Dee, 26, was one of 3,500 revelers at Israel’s Supernova music festival when Hamas attacked the event as part of its onslaught, killing 378 people and taking 44 hostages from it.

“My life was cut in half,” Dee told The Post of that fated day, which left a total of more than 1,200 people dead in what was the deadliest single day of attack in the Jewish state’s history.

“You have the previous life, and then life post-Nova.”

Born in Israel, Dee moved to the UK at 6, developing interests in martial arts and piano.

She left college after a year to join the Israel Defense Force in 2019 and credits her military training with helping her make the tactical decisions that saved her life and those of many around her nearly three years ago.

“I started hearing rockets, but it wasn’t apparent what was going on yet,” she said of Oct. 7, adding that the dropping missiles sounded like “bass from the music, but offbeat.”

After recognizing the sound of automatic gunfire, she realized this was not the IDF responding to Hamas.

Dee said she knew it couldn’t be her country’s own troops because “we are trained not to use automatic weapons … they’re much less safe and accurate.”

Dee was speaking after an Oct. 7 survivor took his life earlier this month at the grave of his slain girlfriend.

“I had 14 friends who were with me who all — thank God — survived, but each of us is taking it their own way,” she said.

“It’s more difficult to find meaning in life now, because a lot of us say, ‘I got this life back as a gift. How do I go back to work?’ ” she said.

“You’ve got the extreme gratitude for being alive mixed with the desire to disappear and not feel this pain anymore.”

Dee quoted fellow festival survivor Roei Shalev, who ended up taking his own life on the second anniversary of the attacks in October 2025.

“The same night, he wrote on his Instagram story, ‘I can’t explain this feeling to anyone. I don’t expect you to understand, but I am burning from the inside,’ ” Dee said.

In the aftermath of Oct. 7, Dee was approached by SafeHeart, an Israeli organization that works with survivors, offering free therapy and support.

She has been with the same “amazing psychologist” ever since.

“Honestly, SafeHeart saved my life. I was in a very, very confusing place,” she said, describing how she was smoking weed daily to cope with survivor’s guilt.

“Why am I destroying my life now that I’ve got it as a gift?” Dee said she asked herself. “The psychologist helped me to put these things straight in my mind and let go of a little bit of guilt.”

Dee was also able to find peace in music again, reconnecting with the piano as an emotional outlet and a way to channel her energy.

She wrote a song, “Bring Them Home,” to support the hostages, raising money to send to their families.

Dee threw herself into advocacy, addressing Israel’s parliament in June and participating in May’s Israel Day March in New York City.

Thousands of people marched up Fifth Avenue in an event Dee described as a source of empowerment and unity for the Jewish community, after Mayor Zohran Mamdani chose to stay away.

“After the Holocaust, we didn’t have the strength or power or unity to show people, ‘You’re not just gonna kill us or get rid of us,’ ” she said.

“This ability to walk with pride after an event like [Oct. 7] and not just back down and say, ‘Oh my God, the world hates us. Oh my god, they’re gonna kill us again.’ … I think we need that inside strength,” Dee said.

SafeHeart has provided treatment to 2,500 Oct. 7 survivors and says many are still suffering from PTSD three years on.

“Recovery from trauma of this magnitude is a long and complex process requiring sustained, specialized support from professionals who understand … the extraordinary gap between the joy and freedom they experienced that morning and the extreme terror that followed,” SafeHeart CEO Efrat Aton told The Post.