Recording of battle fought by Itay Chen on Oct. 7 played at funeral; Herzog praises slain hostage as ‘national symbol’

At the funeral for Itay Chen, a recording is played of the last minutes of the battle he fought on October 7, in which his voice and the sound of gunshots are heard.

Itay Chen was taken from a tank near Nahal Oz along with his crewmates, Capt. Daniel Perez and Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz, who were both killed, and Matan Angrest, one of the 20 living hostages who were released on October 13 as part of a ceasefire deal.

Leibovitz was buried on October 17, 2023, in the Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery. Perez’s initial funeral was held on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on March 18, 2024; His family held a second funeral after his body was released by Hamas last month.

President Isaac Herzog offers the first eulogy, calling Itay Chen a “national symbol.”

“We learned your story and learned your sense of purpose, and ask to tell you today, thank you, thank you to Perez’s crew, whose toughest moments of battle we just heard,” says Herzog. He notes how good it was to see Angrest, who is present.

Herzog says that at every funeral and encounter with a bereaved family, he is in awe of “this remarkable generation, your generation, Itay.”

“Look at the hidden light shining from this generation – yours, Itay, your friends’, your peers’. Diamonds, each and every one. Beacons, lighting our path further and further into the distance,” says Herzog.

He notes that the Chen family decided not to sit shiva for their son until his body was returned home from Gaza.

He lauds the family’s strength and the Chens’ “extraordinary, almost impossible campaign, across the world.”

Herzog says in English, “The determined international effort, spearheaded by President Donald Trump, to bring Staff Sergeant Itay Chen and all other hostages home, goes to the heart of the battle between us who seek peace and stability and those who seek terror and radicalization. I repeat here again what I have said throughout: The entire family of nations must stand, here, with humanity and much more. Every last hostage comes home for dignified burial.”

He refers to the Chens’ repeated call for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, which Herzog said he has echoed time and again over the past two years.

“I repeat it again here, because we all know that only an independent, professional, and comprehensive investigation can yield answers to these questions – the very questions the Chen family and countless Israelis have asked themselves every day since October 7th,” says Herzog.