Guy Illouz

The death of Guy Illouz, 26, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 as they attacked the Supernova desert rave, was announced on December 1 by Mor Metro-West High School in Ra’anana in a Facebook post.

Illouz was wounded and taken captive during Hamas’s grisly October 7 massacre, in which some 360 people were killed and around 40 taken hostage. According to accounts from hostages freed during a temporary truce with Hamas in late November, Illouz succumbed to his wounds in a Gaza hospital, apparently due to lack of medical treatment.

No details were provided regarding how and when he died. The Israel Defense Forces has yet to confirm his death.

A soundman, he worked with Israeli musicians including Matti Caspi, Shalom Hanoch and rock band Hayehudim. Illouz played the guitar from a young age and studied philosophy and psychology, according to Hebrew media reports.

“He was a person with a huge heart, who really just wanted the best for people, for them to be happy and have fun. I really don’t even know how to eulogize someone like that,” Illouz’s friend, Guy Videyah, told the Kan broadcaster.

Among a series of videos from Israeli musicians who worked with Illouz, Kan aired an undated clip from Orit Shachaf of the rock band Hayehudim, who called him a “promising young musician.”

The mayor of Ra’anana, the city where Illouz was born and raised, remembered him as, “a loving man, happy and full of laughter.”

“Music followed Guy his whole life and until his death,” Raanana Mayor Chaim Broyde wrote in a Facebook post. “Guy was partying with hundreds of other innocents at the party near Kibbutz Re’im and was taken captive by cruel murderers. For the past long weeks we hope and prayed for Guy’s return — but today we found out that he will never return.”

In the days before Illouz’s capture was confirmed, a friend Sigal Donagi-Slonim wrote on Facebook, “Guy is an innocent young musician, who participated in the music festival that was brutally attacked by Hamas murderers. He owns a beautiful dog named George, who misses him. Guy is the only child of Doris, an amazing and beloved woman. Guy and Doris need our help: Doris is asking to share these videos, in the hope it will help bring her son back home.”
Source: The Times of Israel