BROOKLINE, MASS. (WHDH) - With Hamas still holding more than 70 hostages in Gaza, one Oct. 7 attack survivor is holding out hope for his friend still being held.
Din Tesler, 22, recorded a cell phone video while hiding from Hamas terrorists at the Nova Music Festival in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He spoke to 7News in Brookline about the harrowing experience.
“After the video, I started doing goodbye messages to my best friends from my army, from my home, my family, I texted my big brother, ‘I love you. I’m going to die,'” he said.
Telser said he spent nine hours concealing himself among cactus bushes before running to arriving Israeli soldiers.
“This is the entrance where I got into the cactus,” he said upon returning to the site.
His best friend, Bar Kupershtein, was not as lucky. Before Hamas attacked, the two childhood friends were providing security at the music festival.
“Hamas came to Bar and took him hostage. From that moment we split up, ’til today — one year and four months, I don’t see my best friend,” Tesler said.
Tesler has watched as several Israeli hostages have been released during a ceasefire over the past few weeks. The last few men, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi, and Or Levy, arrived emaciated and sick.
“If they look like that, how’s my best friend look right now? But faith is what keeps me positive,” Tesler said.
But staying positive is getting harder for Tesler, with fears that the ceasefire will end, as Hamas plans to postpone freeing more hostages.
“If all the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock — I think that’s an appropriate time — I would say cancel it and all bets are off. Let hell break out,” President Donald Trump said about the ceasefire deal.
“I hear Trump. I hear my president Netanyahu, I hear that, and what I’m saying is just, ‘Please God, it will happen,” Tesler said in response.
As Tesler waits, he wears three charms around his neck — one for the hostages, one for surviving Nova, and another of a cactus. They’re all symbols of hope he’d like to finally get off his chest.
“I will put them in a nice place in my room, lay them to rest, and it will be a memory, but until it will happen, it’s on me every day, all day,” he said.
Tesler is next traveling to Florida to share his story, but if his friend is released Saturday, he said he will be on the next plane to Israel to give him a hug.
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