Nadav Biton

Staff Sgt. Nadav Biton, 20, a Kfir soldier from Ofakim, was killed while off-duty and partying at the Supernova music festival on October 7.

Shortly before 10 a.m., he called his father and whispered that he was hiding in the Re’im forest, and sent his location on WhatsApp.

“I left to head toward him, but they didn’t let me leave the city,” his father, Motti, told Haaretz.

After several days of confusion and conflicting notifications that he was wounded or killed or kidnapped, the family was finally informed that his body had been found and identified.

According to eyewitnesses, he helped his friend hide in the forest and went to seek help, telling him to stay put. On the way he encountered a cell of terrorists and was shot dead from short range.

He was buried on October 12 in Ofakim, just four days before his 21st birthday and a week before he was slated to finish his IDF service.

He is survived by his parents, Hedva and Motti, and his siblings Yanir, Nissim and Hili.

According to a eulogy on the Ofakim municipal website, it was important to Nadav to serve in a meaningful combat position in the IDF, and he dreamed of opening his own business after he finished his mandatory service.

His older brother, Yanir, wrote on Instagram about lighting a torch in his memory at a ceremony for the Kfir Brigade: “I will always be with you in my heart and my soul. To bring you up everywhere I go. And always to proclaim your name, Nadav Biton, as a hero who was never afraid of anything. Who loved his surroundings and always worried about others before he did himself. My little brother Nadav, I love you, I always loved you and I will always love you.”

In February, his girlfriend Tali Shpital, counted “125 days without you, 19 Shabbats that you are not with me.”

“125 days that I don’t get to see your beautiful and addictive smile, 125 days that I don’t get to hear your laugh that I love so much. 125 days without your bear hug, without your beautiful voice,” she continued.

“My love, thank you for our wonderful time together, thank you for nights full of laughter, thank you for all the experiences, thank you for your constant support, thank you for not letting me fall and never letting me feel alone, thank you for the hugs and the kisses and your love.”

A month after he was killed, his mother Hedva wrote on Facebook about her overwhelming grief and pain over his loss.

“Thank you for every moment you were with me in this life. Thank you for being mine,” she wrote. “I’m proud of the boy you were. The man you were. With the biggest heart in the world. You left an empty world, my love. I hope I gave you everything you wanted,” she continued.

“My prince, my love, I enjoyed every moment I had with you in life but it wasn’t enough for me,” Hedva wrote. “We were supposed to have so many more. And certainly, you were supposed to bury me and not I you… goodbye, my angel in heaven. You will always be in front of my eyes, with the most beautiful smile in the world.”