Gavriel Barel, 22: Partygoer had ‘blue eyes full of depth’
Murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7
Gavriel Yishay Barel, 22, from Safed, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.
He attended the rave with his friend, off-duty soldier Eliasaf Ben Porat. The pair tried to flee the site of the festival but were both shot dead. Their car was later recovered near the Mefalsim Junction.
His family searched for any trace of him for more than a week before they were informed that he had been killed.
Gavriel was buried in Safed on October 16. He is survived by his parents, Oshrat and Yair, and his siblings Oriel, Avraham, Sara and Yehuda.
The fourth oldest in the family, Gavriel grew up in Safed, attending religious schools, according to a state eulogy.
After finishing high school he enlisted in the IDF and served at the main training base for the Northern Command near Yokneam. Following his release he moved back to Safed and started working in the city.
He was a devout fan of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team.
“Gavriel, my brother, my best friend, I still can’t manage to part from you,” his brother, Yehuda, wrote on Instagram. “Every morning that you’re not with us feels like a lifetime. I feel like I’m in some sort of nightmare just waiting for you to return and say it was just one of your jokes.”
Yehuda wrote that he was “not willing to accept that you’ll never come back. I miss you my angel. I hope to one day wake up from this nightmare and hear your laugh at least one more time.”
Gavriel’s aunt, Shaylee wrote on Facebook describing her nephew as “a boy with beautiful eyes, a huge soul and a wide smile.”
“He had a rare combination of childlike joy and a great love for life, he loved to dance and listen to music, he was very connected to his mother and was always there to provide a shoulder and to help,” she wrote.
Shaylee said that in the period before his death, “he started to ask himself the big questions about life — what he’s looking for and what he wanted to focus on. All his future was ahead of him, and despite his young age he was already started to discover his path.”
His mother, Oshrat, shared online the eulogy she read at a ceremony marking a month since his funeral.
“Gavrieli, you were defined by your dynamism, your desire for freedom and for a good life,” she wrote. “You were a free and happy butterfly, you were endowed with big and stand-out charisma, with a well-developed sense of humor, a joy for life and a constant captivating smile.”
Oshrat said her son’s “energy, combined with your integrity and your love of others drew attention from your surroundings, and your presence could never be ignored. You were a true friend, with a unique personality, multi-faceted.”
For Gavriel, “spontaneity was a central value, alongside this you were very practical, logical and smart… Everywhere you went you really brought with you light and joy. You were gifted with sensitivity to your friends, your siblings and most of all toward me. You always tried to lighten the mood, even in difficult situations.”
“God loaned us an angel as a gift — pure and beautiful outside and inside, with golden hair and blue eyes full of depth and understanding… You had a fire and a passion to conquer the world.”
