Beauty and bravery in the face of Hamas terror: Survivors of October 7 massacre put on extraordinary fashion show with outfits including wedding dress worn by model whose fiance died saving lives

These astonishing pictures show the moment brave survivors of Hamas' ruthless October 7 massacre stepped out at a unique fashion show to model dresses inspired by the brutal atrocities. 

The models included British-Israeli Jessica Elter, who heard the moment her fiance Ben was shot dead as she spoke with him on the phone, and the famous 'Woman in Red' Vlada Patapov, who was captured sprinting away from Hamas gunmen at the Nova music festival in one of the most recognisable images of the slaughter.

Each model who took to the catwalk was either a survivor who witnessed the massacre, or had lost a loved one to the bullets, knives and grenades of Hamas terrorists. 

The fashion show by Fine Productions was held in the Old Jaffa old town district of Tel Aviv last night. 

It was called POV, standing for point of view, as it told the story of the massacre from different perspectives. 

Each outfit was created by some of Israel's finest designers, inspired by the atrocities at the music festival that day and worn by those who endured unspeakable horrors.

Still grieving and tormented by what they witnessed, the survivors came together to put on a show of defiance and vowed: 'We will dance again.'

As she put on the wedding dress for the very first time, Jessica Elter began to cry.

But these were no tears of joy and this was not her wedding day.

The Liverpool-born model's fiance, Ben Shimoni, was shot dead by terrorists on October 7 as he sacrificed his life to save over a dozen people from the Nova festival massacre.

On Sunday evening Miss Elter wore the bridal gown with a bullet hole on her heart as she joined 13 other survivors in an extraordinary fashion show to remember those they lost.

'The first sentence that I said wearing that dress was I wanted this moment just with Ben,' the 27-year-old told the Daily Mail in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Her partner of six years escaped the massacre only to ignore pleas from her and her family to return multiple times to save people before he was killed while she was on the phone to him.

'I miss him.' she said. 'I miss him every second of the day. But the only thing I can do besides missing him is doing things so that people will remember Ben - telling his story all around the world.'

Among the most powerful outfits was that worn by Yovel Sharvit Trabelsi, whose 27-year-old husband, Mor Trabelsi, was shot in the head in front of her on October - exactly one month after their wedding day.

After the car they were fleeing in rolled into a ditch, Ms Trabelsi, 26, was forced to cover herself in her newly wedded husband's blood and play dead for over six hours.

She too wore a wedding dress, almost identical to the one she wore on September 7, with a bullet hole on her head and the words 'No More Killing' on the back - both in reference to her late partner, Mor.

The bridal gown was covered in hands after she witnessed terrorists raping and kidnapping other festival goers while she lay waiting for the army to rescue her.

'I saw everything,' she said. 'When I came out of the car I saw all the bodies on the floor.' 

But she said of the fashion show, 'Now I am standing here because I want people to remember the story of my husband.

'We got married one month before the attack. I have my hair in the same style I had it that day. This dress is the same as my wedding dress. I miss him.'

Sapir Taylor Rose designed a dress with the help of her children Taylor, five, and Dylan, four, after her only brother, Sun Yahakobar, was killed at the festival. 

The children drew images showing their pain which she put on a duvet and later modelled into a dress as 'a big hug'. 

Ms Rose said: 'My children are always sad, all the time they are crying and drawing. They ask why is the sun only in the sky and not here.

'My heart is broken. I take all this and I put all this in the fabric. I used a duvet and I make a big hug.'

Wearing Ms Rose's dress is Yarin Amar, 22, who witnessed unspeakable horrors after fleeing the festival and playing dead for eight hours. 

She hid in the bushes and covered herself in the blood of the dead bodies surrounding her. 

She claimed to have heard the terrorists raping and shooting while she lay there.

'We ran to the bushes,' Amar said. 'There were so many dead people around me. I would take their blood to look like I am dead.

'I was there for eight hours. I didn't see the rape with my eyes, but I heard it. They were taking a girl, raping her and passing her from each other. Then they shoot them.'

Ms Amar said she was wearing her dress 'to tell the real story of the victims'.

Lady in red Vlada Patapov closed the show as she represented hope for the people of Israel after she was found by the Daily Mail. 

Her dress was inspired by the Israeli flag with birds of peace on her hat. 

Her appearance at the fashion show comes two months after a picture of her fleeing the festival in a red shawl became one of the most hauntingly iconic images from the atrocity. 

Discussing the impact of her story, Mrs Patapov said: 'I didn't even know how far my story had spread. 

'So many people wanted to know what happened to me. After this story I am getting so many messages saying thank God I'm fine, my boyfriend is fine. 

'I came back to my friends like many others didn't. I'm closing the show to show something happy happening – to show hope.'

Other participants included survivor Bar Goldstein, 24, who wore a gold dress made of bullets after she used her body to shelter friends cowering from Hamas gunmen on October 7. 

Miraculously, she escaped the hot lead and was able to take to the stage alongside her fellow survivors. 

Another survivor stripped off her outfit on the runway to reveal a blood-stained bodysuit to symbolise the rape of so many Israeli women that day. 

Tal Lee Menachem, 32, came out in a grey trench coat with the date of the terror attack etched on the front in red ribbons. 

It had Star of David badges down the collar in reference to the Holocaust as Jews were forced to wear the markers in Nazi Germany. 

Ms Menachem dropped the coat to reveal a white wedding dress underneath. This symbolised the innocence and beauty of those partygoers at the festival on October 7. 

But in the most shocking catwalk of the evening, she then stripped this off to reveal a blood-stained bodysuit. 

This was a striking reference to the many Israeli women raped by Hamas terrorists on October 7.  

Describing the importance of the show, Lian Mizrachi, 26, who designed Miss Elter's wedding dress, said: 'Two months ago Israel had a disaster inflicted by Hamas.

'We are here to memorise them and also to make some noise in the world about what has happened here in Israel.'