Boyfriend of woman murdered by Hamas in October 7 massacre shoots himself dead beside her grave

 The boyfriend of an Israeli woman murdered by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 massacre has taken his own life beside his late girlfriend's grave.

The tragic incident occurred last Saturday, when 30-year-old Bar Asraf, shot himself by Liron Barda's grave. Barda had been killed while attending the Nova Music Festival.

Asraf was found by his sister with a gunshot to the chest at the cemetery in Elkana in the West Bank. Despite the rapid intervention of emergency services, the man was pronounced dead.

Speaking to Israeli outlet Walla, his sister Lehi described the heartbreaking moment she found her brother's body.

'We were at my [other] brother's wedding, and he apparently started to feel lonely...he left. I thought he went to be alone and think like he usually does. 

'An hour, two hours passed, my older sister said, 'Come on, let's go look for him. First in the most logical places, and then we said at Liron's grave. He liked to talk there and be with her.'

'Suddenly I see him lying next to Liron's grave. I told him, "Get up, what are you doing again", Then I realized he was covered in blood. I stepped on a gun next to him. I screamed. I couldn't function.... I knew it was the end.

'He died in the place he wanted to be most, with the woman he wanted to be most.'

Barda had been working as a bar manager at the  Nova festival. Although her friends and family begged her to flee during the terror attack, she stayed behind to tend to the injured.

Speaking previously to Israel Hayom, her father Avi said: 'I spoke to her that morning, I asked her to leave the area - she refused, she said there were wounded people and she was staying.'

'This was Liron - I would have been surprised if she agreed to flee.' 

Asraf had been struggling for nearly three years with the death of his girlfriend, people close to him revealed. 

Asraf's mother told Walla that her son was never the same after Barda's death. She described Barda as his 'soulmate' and noted that his grief had completely consumed him. 

'There were three days when we didn't know what happened to her in Nova, a nerve-wracking experience,' his mother Bracha said. 

'He slept at my house and didn't move from me from morning until night. He sat with her entire family. He's stayed in touch with them ever since, brought his mother bouquets of flowers, got a tattoo in her honour.'

A short while before taking his own life, Bracha says her son expressed that he was very sad and that it was hard for him without Barda. 

'I miss her. There's no one to replace her, to encourage me,' he told his mother.

Asraf's funeral took place on Sunday where he was buried at the new Nahal Rabbah Cemetery.

Shiran Maor, chairman of the Lev Ma'af association, which provides psychological assistance to Nova survivours and their families, said, 'Our hearts are broken by this terrible tragedy. 

'We share the family's deep sorrow and embrace everyone who knew and loved him.' 

In April 2024, it was reported that 50 Nova survivours had taken their own lives in the six months following the massacre.

There have been other cases since, such as that of Roei Shalev, a 28-year-old who set himself on fire in October of last year.

Shalev was found dead in a burning vehicle on a highway exit near Netanya, two years after he witnessed his girlfriend's murder.

Shalev's girlfriend, Mapal Adam, and his best friend, Hili Solomon, were murdered before his very eyes at the hands of Hamas militants at the Nova festival.