October 7 Attack Survivor Gal Cohen-Solal Recounts Experience to HLS Affiliates

Six days after Gal Cohen-Solal moved to Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel, his home came under attack. After hearing sirens and making plans to leave, Cohen-Solal received a call from his kibbutz’s leader, who told him to stay inside.

“That was the first time that our lives was saved,” he said.

Cohen-Solal spoke on Monday at a Harvard Law School lunch event hosted by Faces of October 7, an apolitical non-profit organization aimed at countering antisemitism, and the HLS Alliance for Israel. He said it was his “third tour” around the United States and has visited a number of universities across the country, including Brown University and Duke University.

During his presentation, Cohen-Solal drew out a timeline of time living in Re’im, one of the main areas targeted by Hamas during its October 7 attack. Hamas soldiers chose to enter the area “to kill and capture as many civilians that they can.”

He said the area was undefended: “There was not even one soldier in those kibbutzim.”

The Nova Music Festival, where Hamas militants massacred more than 260 Israelis on October 7, took place just outside of Re’im. Cohen-Solal said attendees fled to his kibbutz — only to run into more Hamas soldiers.

While sheltering in his family’s safe room, Cohen-Solal heard through his kibbutz’s WhatsApp group that two of his friends had been killed.

“Since that moment, I knew exactly what’s going on inside our kibbutz,” he said. “I remember that I, from that point, I just counted the minutes until they will come to my house and kill.”

As Cohen-Solal, his wife, and three children sheltered in their safe room, he remembered coming to a decision — if Hamas knocked on his door, he said he would’ve sacrificed himself in hopes that his family’s lives might have been spared.

Yet, several hours came and went, and instead the Israeli army entered his house.

“I told them that they need to be careful,” Cohen-Solal said. “But I knew that finally, after 12 hours, the army took control of everything.”

The Cohen-Solal family’s reemergence from their safe room was bittersweet. Cohen-Solal and his wife then packed their three young children into their car and left Re’im.

“If you’re asking me, those guys are the real heroes,” Cohen-Solal said, pointing to a photo of his children asleep in the car as they left the kibbutz.

As they left, they passed Hamas militant trucks, burned houses, and bodies, he said.

“We thought that they didn’t saw anything, but they did,” Cohen-Solal said of his children.

Cohen-Solal dedicated his presentation to two victims of the Israel-Hamas war: Roi Levy, an American-Israeli citizen who was Cohen-Solal’s commander during his mandatory service in the Israeli military, and Shaul Greenglick, Cohen-Solal’s wife’s cousin — a soldier and aspiring singer.

In an interview after his presentation, Cohen-Solal reiterated his goal of spreading non-partisan knowledge to students on college campuses.

“I feel that there is some ignorance, and I do feel that we need to bring some knowledge,” Cohen-Solal said.

“For me, if even two guys will show up and they will be able to share it with other guys, I've done my job,” he added.

—Staff writer Caroline G. Hennigan can be reached at caroline.hennigan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cghennigan.