Amit David, 23: Burgeoning estate agent approached life with joy

Amit Itzhak David, 23, from Beit Shemesh, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7.

He attended the rave with his friends Sapir Bilmes and Karin Vernikov, who were also both slain that day, and with his cousin.

After eating Friday night dinner at his grandparents’ house in Jerusalem, Amit left for the festival to celebrate one of his friends’ birthday. When the rocket fire began, Amit and his friends tried to flee in their car, but he was shot and killed.

Before he was killed, he had initially informed his mother that they were returning home from the party, but later phoned her as he drew his last breaths, whispering: “Mom, I love you.”

He was confirmed dead three days later, on October 10, and was buried that day in Beit Shemesh. He is survived by his parents, Yigal and Limor, and his two younger siblings, Iddo, 21, and Ofri, 14.

Having attended the prestigious Boyar school in Jerusalem, Amit enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces, serving as a fighter in the 603rd Battalion. After his release, he traveled to South America with friends for several months, and upon his return began studying to be a real estate entrepreneur, which was his dream.

He then opened a real estate agency in Beersheba, but was able to realize his dream for about a month before he was murdered.

“Amit made everyone who knew him better,” his mother, Limor, told a local news site. “We want him to be remembered for his joy, compassion, and his dying wish: ‘Smile, be kind, and love one another.’”

His father Yigal wrote on Ynet: “My heart aches more with each passing day. I don’t know how to go on like this, no one prepared me. I miss you to death and imagine that you’re coming back home. I kiss you and don’t let go. Come home, I’m waiting.”

In her eulogy, His aunt Sigi promised to support his parents and brothers and try to move on, but asked him to “send us the strength to deal with the eternal pain.”

His cousin, Dor Parnassa, shared a love of soccer with Amit. They were both diehard fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team: “Our entire childhood revolved around soccer,” he wrote on the club’s official website. “We used to love talking about soccer together so much, watching the games, playing together, and being disappointed in Beitar on Friday night dinners. I promise you I’ll keep taking you to games with me. I know you’d love that.”

“My life was turned upside down the day he was murdered,” his niece, Ofir David told a local news site. “I’ll forever keep his memory alive. He was an angel on earth, and now he is an angel in the sky.”

“Not everyone has the privilege of knowing such a powerful personality,” his friend Ofir Vaknin similarly told the site. “I used to always look at him and learn how to smile for no reason. Just smile, and the world will smile back at you.”

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