October 7 · Personal story
Itay Regev
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im.
Current outcome
Released alive · November 29, 2023
Released alive and returned to Israel on November 29, 2023.
01
School, football and a trip home
Itay Regev was 18, from Herzliya, and had finished high school months before October 7. He played football through eleventh grade and followed Beitar Jerusalem and Barcelona. He had just returned from a family holiday in Mexico with his mother Mirit, sister Maya and younger brother Guy. Itay and Maya went to Nova the next day. Maya later described him as being like her twin, despite their age difference; when Omer Shem Tov invited her to the festival, she bought a ticket for Itay too.
02
The flight from Nova
At Nova, Itay was with Maya and Omer Shem Tov when the attack began. After running from the festival, they got into a car driven by Uri Danino, who had turned back to help them. Maya told Ynet that both siblings were shot in the legs and that attackers pulled them from the car. Itay recalled lying on the road with a gun held against the back of his head, believing he was about to die. His hands were tied, and he was taken into Gaza with Maya and Omer.
03
Injury, separation and fear
Regev arrived in Gaza with a serious leg wound and was separated from Maya. In his account to Ynet, he described armed captors around him as a doctor removed the bullet from his right leg without anesthesia; he was warned to stay silent or be killed. He later said his captors mocked and struck him, while their stories about Israeli strikes were meant to make him fear the military more than them. The Guardian reported that he spent the first week in a locked room without daylight and that his daily food was insufficient for him and Omer. The two friends were moved between houses; Regev and Maya exchanged notes when she was held nearby. He described distance from family and not knowing what was happening as among the hardest parts.
04
Four days after Maya
Itay was released alive on November 29, 2023, after 54 days in captivity. Maya had returned on November 25, four days earlier. Itay recalled that his captors told him the day before that he would be released. He was handed to the Red Cross, which brought him out of Gaza. In his later interview, he described happiness at returning to his family alongside sadness that Omer, with whom he had spent 52 days, was still captive.
05
A young life rebuilt in public
In March 2024, Itay travelled to London with relatives of other hostages and called for the return of those still held. He spoke about his captors’ attempts to make him fear Israeli strikes and about Omer, who was then still in Gaza. In an October 2024 Ynet interview, he described beginning his first acting role in a youth series and using boxing and training to cope with trauma. Public recognition was difficult: he said he wanted strangers to see him as an ordinary person.