October 7 · Personal story
Itai Svirsky
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
His parents’ home in Kibbutz Be’eri
Current outcome
Returned for burial · December 4, 2024
His body was recovered from Gaza and returned to Israel.
01
Before 7 October
Itai Svirsky was born in Be’eri on 17 February 1985, the third child of Rafi and Orit. He was a gifted young athlete who played basketball, tennis and football, supported Maccabi Tel Aviv, and later learned to play guitar and piano. He began studying psychology and philosophy, later changed his course of study and completed an MBA, and trained as a Satya coach. Family and friends remembered an attentive listener who liked helping others; he trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai and visited his grandmother Aviva in Be’eri nearly every weekend. As a child he spent many afternoons at his grandparents’ home, sharing fruit and cakes with his grandmother and weekends with cousins on the lawn. At school he studied Jewish thought and kept asking philosophical questions. He served in an air-control unit, traveled to India after his service and later trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu four times a week. His search for a fitting path led him from philosophy to economics and general studies, then to an MBA. As he grew closer to his grandmother, he considered moving back to Be’eri.
02
7 October
Itai lived in Tel Aviv but often returned to Be’eri to see his family and grandmother. He arrived at his parents’ home on Friday, 6 October. During the attack, he and his mother Orit sheltered in the safe room; his parents were killed and he was taken from the house to Gaza.
03
In captivity
The Be’eri community memorial records that Itai spent 99 days in captivity. After about 50 days, released hostages told his family he had seen his mother dead and asked his sister Merav to do everything she could to bring him home. The memorial states that, on the 97th day, an Israeli airstrike caused the building where Itai was held with Noa Argamani and Yossi Sharabi to collapse. Itai survived and escaped the rubble; his captors killed him two days later, on 13 January 2024. After Noa’s release, the family learned how he had supported others even under those conditions.
04
Return and burial
Israeli forces recovered Itai’s body from Gaza and returned it to Israel on 4 December 2024. Two days later he was buried in Be’eri, between his parents and beside his grandfather Bamik.
05
A life remembered
Itai was the devoted uncle who showed up for his nieces and nephews, cared for his father after a heart attack and made the trip to Be’eri to spend time with his grandmother. His family’s Be’eri memorial describes a person whose life was shaped by close bonds and a wish to be there for other people.