‘Always with a hole in my heart’: Slain hostage Eitan Levy buried 2 years after murder

Eitan Levy, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists during their October 7, 2023, onslaught and whose body was kidnapped to Gaza, was laid to rest on Thursday, more than two years after he was killed.

Levy, 53 at the time of his death, a taxi driver from Bat Yam, was killed by terrorists after he drove a passenger to Kibbutz Be’eri early that Saturday morning. He drove into the ambush as he was on the phone with his son, Shahar.

His body was returned, along with those of two other deceased captives, on Tuesday night and identified on Wednesday. The following day, more than 740 days after Levy was murdered, his family held his funeral in his hometown of Bat Yam, where Shahar eulogized him to a crowd of hundreds of friends and relatives.

“Dad, I’m having a very hard time, and I don’t want anything. I just want you to come back and hug me one more time,” Shahar said.

He told his father in the eulogy that he is getting married in March, and that if he has a son, that son will bear Eitan Levy’s name.

“One day, God willing, when I get married and have children, my son will be named after you, because, Dad, you just deserve it,” Shahar said.

He added, “Next March I’m going to get married to my soulmate, and your dream is finally coming true. And even if you can’t physically take me to the huppa, I know you’ll be there with me — in my heart, my soul, my every breath.

Levy is also survived by his sister, Sigi. He stayed close friends with his ex-wife, Aviva, and acted as a father figure to her three children with her wife, Chen: Sunny, River, and Reef.

“Dad, I’ve learned what it means to live without a father,” Shahar said. “What it means to wake up every day and be the man of the house. To take care of mom, of Sunny, of Chen — all of them broken and falling apart each day because they miss you so much. Reef and River, who’ve become little men themselves, keep searching for your presence all the time. And me… I’m broken too. As if someone shot me straight through the heart.”

He continued: “Yes, we had our hard moments — the arguments between a father and son — but I know you forgive me, because I made mistakes, and I want you to know, up there among the angels, that I forgive you too — with a heart that’s broken, but whole.”

“My father, my new life is a life alongside grief, alongside loss. I’m learning to love, to laugh, to work — but always with a hole in my heart. The place that belongs to you,” he said.

Forty days after the October 7 attack, Levy’s family was informed that he was believed to be held hostage in Gaza. Then, in December 2023, authorities confirmed that Levy had been murdered on October 7 and his body taken captive.

In August 2024, his family agreed to release graphic footage showing Levy’s body being driven through the streets of Gaza and being kicked and stomped on by Gazans.

After his death was initially confirmed, Levy’s family held a memorial service and sat shiva, the weeklong mourning period, but were not able to hold a funeral.

In her own eulogy on Thursday, Levy’s sister recounted the pain of the past two years and said, “Your body has finally returned to us, returned to Israeli soil.”

“Two full years have gone by since that terrible day, the day you were cruelly murdered and kidnapped to Gaza,” she said. “Two years of pain, without respite, of silence, of screaming in my heart, of sleepless nights and breathless days.”

She continued: “My Eitan, you were the light of the house, the person who always embraced, laughed, helped and loved. A heart of gold, with a heart-melting smile. You are etched into my every breath, every thought, every tear.”