October 7 · Personal story
Amit Buskila
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Nova music festival near Re’im
Current outcome
Returned for burial · May 17, 2024
Her body was recovered in Gaza and returned to Israel on May 17, 2024.
01
Life before
Amit was born in Kiryat Gat. Her parents separated when she was four months old, and she grew up with her mother, Ilana, and her older brother. Her uncle Shimon Atias became a father figure; they stayed close, and Amit often sought his advice before making decisions. She went to school in Kiryat Gat and later completed military service in the Intelligence Corps. Her mother remembered her as warm and generous, saying Amit taught her what ahavat chinam—love given freely—meant. Amit loved to cook. She also dreamed of styling and fashion, and in summer 2023 filmed an audition for MasterChef.
02
October 7
On October 7, Amit called her uncle Shimon Atias from near Nova. He later told Ynet that she said she had been shot. During the call, he heard attackers approaching and then gunfire; he hoped the shots had not been aimed at her, but later learned that she had died. The National Insurance Institute records her death and abduction to Gaza that day.
03
Captivity
Amit did not survive the October 7 attack. Her body was taken to Gaza. For 224 days her family waited for news and hoped another announcement would say she had come home alive. Her uncle later described the months as a stretch without day or night, with the family unable to stop asking whether she was alive, injured or held by whom. They heard the news of her death only when the military announced the recovery of her body.
04
Return
Israeli forces recovered Amit’s body in Gaza and returned it to Israel on May 17, 2024. Her family buried her in Kiryat Gat two days later, on May 19.
05
Aftermath
Amit’s mother said her daughter had taught her the meaning of love without expectation. In July 2025, the family held an event in Kiryat Gat to continue Amit’s memory. They described a spiritual project that included building a mikveh in the city where Amit was born and writing a Torah scroll in her memory. The family’s account tied the project to the values they remembered in her: faith, care for others and generosity. Her uncle Shimon and brother Siel also spoke of her warmth and the space she occupied in their daily lives.