Ilan Moshe-Yaakov, 29: Youth center director and aspiring politician

Ilan Eliyahu Moshe-Yaakov, 29, from Tel Aviv, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.

He attended the rave with his cousin, Jenny Nisimboim, who was also slain that day.

At 6:32 a.m., Ilan uploaded an Instagram post from the rave showing the rocket fire, saying: “The State of Israel, I love you despite everything, despite all the rockets and the sirens. There’s nowhere like the State of Israel, we’ll never give up, ever, we’ll never give up on our independence, on our life.”

At 9:12 a.m., he had a conversation with his manager at a youth center where he worked to discuss unlocking the center’s bomb shelter. Shortly before 10 a.m., Jenny told friends that she thought Ilan had been shot, and that was the last anyone heard from them.

His family searched for any sign of him for days, including heading down to the festival site and locating his car and his bag, but nothing else. After five days, Ilan’s body was identified.

He was buried in Tel Aviv on October 12. He is survived by his parents, Marina and Efim, and his siblings Neta, Roy and Tal.

Born and raised in Tel Aviv, the second-oldest in the family, Ilan attended schools in the city although often favored social gatherings over schoolwork, according to a state eulogy.

Toward the end of high school, Ilan realized he wanted to boost his profile before enlisting in the army, and did a year of national service through the Aharai youth leadership initiative. Through the organization he spent a year in Hadera working with middle school children.

Ilan then enlisted in the IDF and served in the elite Duvdevan commando unit. Following his release, he toured around the world, visiting close to 40 countries, his loved ones said.

Upon his return to Israel, he began to work at a youth center in the Hatikva neighborhood of south Tel Aviv, including patrolling the area at nights and convincing at-risk youth to get off the streets. He advanced to become director of the center and became a well-known figure in the neighborhood. Ilan was running for a spot on the Tel Aviv city council on the list of Mayor Ron Huldai’s party, in the elections that were originally slated for October 2023.

“Ilan was a man of good deeds,” wrote Huldai on Facebook. “He influenced thousands of youth who were privileged to encounter his values and his abilities, and got to have a big brother to accompany them in important moments of growing up.” Huldai said that Ilan’s “action and commitment to the city burned in his bones, and he recently joined my Tel Aviv 1 faction in the municipal elections to deepen his influence.”

During his six years working at the youth center Ilan also completed a bachelor’s degree in Jewish history and politics at the University of Haifa and intended to pursue a master’s degree in politics. He was a devoted fan of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team, loved travel and extreme sports and doted on his niece and nephew.

“He was a boy with very very high morals,” his mother, Marina, said in a memorial video. “I knew I had a special son, I knew I had an angel, I knew everything, but I didn’t know about the intensity.”

His sister, Neta, wrote on Instagram in December 2024: “My Ilanchik, you are with me all the time, in every letter I write, in the park named for you, in my morning shake, in my solitude, in the sunrise, while crying about life, in the big laughter despite everything… I hate missing you so much, it hurts my soul.”

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