Itzhak Gelerenter, 56: Grandfather and partygoer was young at heart
Murdered while fleeing the Supernova festival October 7, his body kidnapped and retrieved from Gaza in May 2024
Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, from the small town of Irus in central Israel, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while fleeing the Supernova music festival on October 7.
His body was kidnapped to Gaza, and recovered by IDF troops on May 16, 2024, along with those of Amit Buskila, Ron Benjamin and Shani Louk.
He went to the rave with his friend, Itay Zafrani, and when the rocket fire began they left via car with two other partygoers, including Liraz Assulin. All four were shot dead in the vehicle as they approached the Mefalsim Junction. The bodies of only three of them were found, leading authorities to believe Itzhak had been taken hostage.
Until his remains were brought back to Israel, his family had held out hope that he was alive and being held captive.
Itzhak was buried on May 19, 2024, in Kibbutz Palmahim. He is survived by his four children, Yarden, Asaf, Omer and Ilay, and two grandchildren, Maya and Roni, as well as his parents, Roberto and Gila, and his brothers Motti and Itai.
He was born and raised in Ashdod, to parents who immigrated from Argentina and Turkey. Itzhak worked for the Y.B. Nir crane and construction company and was described by his loved ones as young at heart, involved in sports and loved to enjoy the good life.
His daughter, Yarden, described her father in a radio interview as a “smiling person, witty, with a sense of humor, the first dad to show up when called, a wonderful grandfather — as much as he was macho and strong and tough, with my daughters he was like butter. All his tenderness emerged. He was a wonderful person, a good friend, he totally loved life.”
Itzhak’s brother, Itai, told a local news outlet that his older brother “was a top-notch guy, and a role model to me and to everyone in the family.”
“He set goals for himself throughout life and achieved everything he dreamed of,” his brother added. “He was a guy who didn’t rest for a moment… during the day he was a tough senior manager and in the afternoon he’d go out to exercise and at night he’d celebrate with a beer at the beach with people younger than him — because that’s how we felt.”
Itai said his brother joked that “sleep was for the weak. He always loved to walk on the edge, to live on the extreme… He was the type to set a goal and achieve it. If I ever had doubts in life or needed advice, Itzhak was always the one I went to.”
