A carpet of red wildflowers has bloomed on the site of the Nova music festival massacre in southern Israel, where more than 300 civilians were killed by Hamas on Oct 7.

Reminiscent of the red poppies that emerged on fields at Flanders in the First World War, the red anemones are a symbol of resilience for Israelis - with a conservation group in 2013 naming it the country’s national flower.

The flowers have their own festival known as Darom Adom, or Scarlet South, which has run every January and February for nearly two decades. This year the festival has been cancelled, but despite the bombs and casualties of the war-torn zone, the flowers have grown with abundance.

“On one side it’s hard, but on the other side it just proves to us that life is stronger than everything, and it renews itself, and we’ll need to find the strength to renew ourselves as well,” said festival organiser Vered Libstein.

Libstein founded the Darom Adom festival with her husband 19 years ago, around the time when Palestinian militants started launching frequent rockets into Israel from Gaza.

She said that the yellow dandelions blooming among the red anemones remind her of the 134 hostages believed still held in Gaza. Yellow ribbons have emerged as a symbol of the protests demanding their release.

Libstein said that even though nature is marking the passage of time, it’s impossible to move on while members of her community are still held captive.

“It’s a symbol to us about the importance of blooming again, but it will take a long time”.