As dawn approached on the morning of 7 October 2023, many of the partygoers at the Nova music festival near Gaza's border took illegal recreational drugs like MDMA or LSD.
Hundreds of them were high when, shortly after sunrise, Hamas gunmen attacked the site. Now neuroscientists working with survivors from the festival say there are early signs that MDMA - also known as ecstasy or molly - may have provided some psychological protection against trauma.
Hamas gunmen killed 360 people and kidnapped dozens more at the festival site where 3,500 people had been partying. "We had people hiding under the bodies of their friends for hours while on LSD or MDMA," said Prof Roy Salomon, one of those leading the research.
The research tracked the psychological responses of more than 650 survivors from the festival. Two-thirds of these were under the influence of recreational drugs including MDMA, LSD, marijuana or psilocybin - the compound found in hallucinogenic mushrooms - before the attacks took place.
"MDMA, and especially MDMA that was not mixed with anything else, was the most protective," the study has found, according to Prof Salomon.
He said those on MDMA during the attack appeared to cope much better mentally in the first five months afterwards, when a lot of processing takes place.
"They were sleeping better, had less mental distress - they were doing better than people who didn't take any substance," he said.
The team believes pro-social hormones triggered by the drug - such as oxytocin, which helps promote bonding - helped reduce fear and boost feelings of camaraderie between those fleeing the attack.
And even more importantly, they say, it appears to have left survivors more open to receiving love and support from their families and friends once they were home.
