Carmel Gat, 40: Occupational therapist had ‘curiosity and confidence’
Kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, murdered in captivity in August 2024, her body returned to Israel
Carmel Gat, 40, from Kibbutz Be’eri, was kidnapped from her home on October 7 by Hamas terrorists. She was murdered in captivity in August 2024 and her body was recovered soon after by IDF troops and returned to Israel.
Carmel was visiting her parents that holiday weekend when the Hamas onslaught began. Her mother, Kinneret Gat, was slain in the attack.
Her sister-in-law, Yarden Roman-Gat, was also kidnapped during the attack, while Carmel’s brother Alon and the niece Geffen managed to escape before being captured. Yarden was released from captivity in November 2023 as part of a weeklong ceasefire deal.
Released hostages said they had spent time in captivity with Carmel, and that she had even done daily yoga with the younger hostages before they were freed.
In August 2024, Carmel was executed by her Hamas captors alongside fellow hostages Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi and Alex Lobanov. The IDF announced on September 1, 2024, that they had recovered their bodies in Rafah.
An investigation found that they were murdered by their captors just 48-72 hours before their bodies were found by troops, likely on August 29, 2024.
Carmel was buried next to her mother in Kibbutz Be’eri on September 2, 2024. She is survived by her father, Eshel, and her younger brothers Alon and Or.
Born and raised in Kibbutz Be’eri, the oldest in the family, Carmel – known to friends as Melly – was a doting big sister who sought to instill a cultural education in her younger brothers, according to a kibbutz eulogy. She was opinionated, stuck to her guns and had a well-developed sense of justice, her loved ones said.
As a young adult she moved to Tel Aviv, living with roommates and meeting her longtime partner, Ruvi. She worked in a variety of jobs, delivering sandwiches to offices, serving as an aide to disabled university students and working as an au pair.
Eventually she got a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy at Tel Aviv University and began working in the field. When she was killed, she was just about to start her second year in a master’s degree at Hebrew University in therapy and occupational therapy. She loved podcasts and music, as well as dancing and drinking wine along the beach.
Less than six months before she was killed, she broke up with Ruvi after 14 years and traveled to India for several months – returning to Israel on October 1, 2023. That weekend, she was slated to reunite with her whole family – including her beloved niece.
“The Carmel I knew was a woman of truth and compassion – you can see this even through the photos,” her friend Vita Kairys wrote in Haaretz. “The Carmel I knew constantly insisted on living the good life. Not in the bourgeois sense of material abundance, but in the sense of belonging and meaning.”
Vita said Carmel “made courageous choices in her personal life, not out of bluntness or a defiance, but rather out of curiosity and confidence in the world. When something didn’t work out, she simply went on to examine another possibility.”
In a eulogy read at her funeral, her brothers, Ori and Alon, spoke of “how much we need you here now to give us a hug. To look us in the eyes. To be with us. To give us strength.”
“You brought so much beauty and light and variety and love to the world, to us,” they added. “We took so much inspiration from you. We drew so much strength from you, even when you weren’t physically with us.”
Her brothers said they “miss your appetite for life – you loved to order a bunch of different dishes and taste everything, you loved to party and also go to sleep early after a day of giving it your all. Your ability to help others became your symbol and your hallmark.”