Adam Ilaev, 22: Partygoer was saving up for his world travels

Adam Ilaev, 22, from Ashdod, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7.

Adam attended the rave with his girlfriend, Shani Amin.

When the rocket fire began, the pair decided to immediately leave the festival by car and head home. While traveling along the highway, they saw what they initially assumed to be IDF soldiers before they realized they were Hamas gunmen.

Adam and Shani were both shot dead in their vehicle. Adam’s body was identified several days later, and Shani’s family was not informed of her death for another week.

Adam was buried in Ashdod on October 10. A week later, Shani was buried nearby. He is survived by his parents, Zoya and Arthur and his brother, Danny.

The oldest in his family, Adam was born in Ashkelon, according to a state eulogy.

When he was 2 years old, his family moved to New York, where they lived for several years, before returning and settling in Ashdod, they wrote in a municipal eulogy.

He loved sports in general and particularly martial arts, taking karate and judo for many years. He also loved music and built playlists for every occasion, his loved ones said, becoming the unofficial DJ of the family.

Adam was the oldest grandchild of 19 cousins and he loved to babysit them and dreamed of having his own family one day, his loved ones said.

After high school, he enlisted in the IDF, serving as an Iron Dome technician. Following his release, he began working to save up money to fund his planned world travels.

“My big brother Adam really loved to travel and to party, but what he most loved was to go to music festivals where he could really let go,” his brother, Daniel, wrote on a memorial page.

“Adam and I were very close, and we had a lot of shared hobbies, mostly soccer and boxing,” he said. When games and matches come around that he would have normally watched with Adam, “the longing and the missing just keep growing. Especially on Shabbat and holidays when he’s not at the table and we don’t hear his laughter.”

Daniel said his older brother “really loved and appreciated life, he just loved to live, he took advantage of every day, always looked for ways to enjoy, didn’t think about tomorrow, what was important was the here and now and enjoying the moment… He was a person full of light and loved to always laugh, he was always very social and fun to talk to.”

His mother, Zoya, wrote online that “Adam lived by the mantra — live life to the fullest through laughter and positivity.”

His loss, she said, has left the entire family “heartbroken with thousands of memories. Adam’s energy, kindness, positivity and contagious laughter are forever in our hearts. We miss you every day, our love. The song has ended but the melody keeps playing.”

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