Morgan Mondolini’s 44-room hotel, in Tel Aviv, was almost fully booked on Saturday, October 7. He wasn’t fazed when he woke up to the sound of sirens used to warn residents to take shelter in case of a possible attack. Those have been a fixture of Israeli life for decades.
It was only when he arrived at his property, the Elkonin, that the enormity of events became clear: a terrorist attack by Hamas had claimed at least 1,139 lives and led to the capture of around 240 hostages. Bar Tomer, the hotel’s H.R. coordinator, was among the victims. “She wasn’t answering calls around 10 o’clock, but we just hoped she’d lost her phone in the panic,” says Mondolini. Then her family confirmed that she had been at the Supernova music festival, and after one agonizing week, a DNA test confirmed that she was dead. By the end of the weekend, the Elkonin had emptied of visitors, and employees spent most of their time sheltering in the basement.
