A tiny voice trembles.

“Mom, it’s Daria. Dad’s been murdered. Stav too. Help! Daddy’s dead on the floor. I’m scared.”

What follows is the recording from October 7, 2023, of a conversation between Daria Karp, then 10 years old, who was confined to the protected room of her home in Kibbutz Re’im on the Gaza border with her little brother Lavi, and her mother, Re’ut.

It is one of three conversations from that day that can be heard through earphones at a new October 7 Education Center in the southern city of Sderot, which was presented to the press late last month.

The center aims to create an immersive experience using screens and other multimedia technology. Key to the experience are the virtual reality headsets through which one can digitally meet five survivors and heroes from the massacre at the Supernova party near Kibbutz Re’im, which saw 364 revellers murdered and 44 kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.

The horror of the day — in which some 1,200 mainly civilians were massacred by Hamas gunmen along the Israeli side of the Gaza border and more than 250 were abducted to the coastal strip — is explored through shocking personal accounts and real-time recordings, such as young Daria Karp’s report of her father’s murder.

Dvir Karp, 46, and his girlfriend Stav Kimhi, 35, were murdered by Hamas terrorists while protecting Karp’s children. Daria and Lavi were rescued after nine hours and reunited with their mom, Re’ut, 24 hours after the nightmare had begun.

The multimedia education center commemorating these chilling moments is housed in a large room rented from the Sderot Municipality. It is located across the road from a hill that affords clear views to the border with Gaza just 750 meters (half a mile) away, to Beit Hanoun beyond, and even to Gaza City on the horizon, where smoke billowed from IDF bombing.

The hill, which will soon have elevator access, is the first stop on a visit to the education center, which opened in April. A few thousand people have already visited, with a goal of 40,000 visitors per year.

Multiple screens adorn the center’s walls. Some provide information gathered by the Kan news organization about the........

© The Times of Israel