Those We Have Lost

Nadav Bartal, 23: Global traveler killed with his two best friends

Murdered by Hamas at the Supernova music festival, October 7

Nadav Bartal (Courtesy)
Nadav Bartal (Courtesy)

Nadav Bartal, 23, from the Beit Aryeh settlement, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.

He went to the festival with his two lifelong friends, Ofek Ravia and Gal Danguri, who were both also slain at the rave.

His mother, Natali, told Channel 13 news that he called his father at 7 a.m. and said “Dad, they’re shooting at us.” He said they were hiding, and that was the last they heard from him.

His father, Didi, and Gal’s mother, Yvonne, headed south to the area of the party on Saturday, even while the battle against the Hamas invaders was still raging.

Didi discovered the bodies of Gal, Ofek and Nadav near Kibbutz Mefalsim.

“My husband, Didi, recognized them, he identified Nadav from far away from his shoes, and as he got closer he saw that it was him and saw Ofek next to him, in an embrace,” and Gal not far away, Natali recounted. The parents took body bags from a United Hatzalah ambulance and collected the three young men themselves, putting them in the back of their car.

“He saw his son dead, and he had to put him into a body bag, and to bring him home,” Natali recalled in tears to Channel 13. “Him and his friends.”

Nadav was buried on October 8 in Beit Aryeh alongisde his two friends. He is survived by his parents, Didi and Natali, and his younger sisters Yuval, Noa and Danielle.

His ex-girlfriend, Sarai Asor remembered him as loving the ocean, watching the sunset, his beloved family dogs and traveling around the world. Nadav, Ofek and Gal had spent months touring South America a year before they were killed.

“Nadav and I loved to talk about the future, Nadav told me how much he admired his father Didi, and how much he wanted to buy a caravan, and one day his wife and kids will live in it with him and travel around the world, with a bonfire in nature and an endless view of forests,” recounted Sarai.

“Nadav and I loved the ocean and the sun setting on the sea, it was our thing,” she added. “Nadav was addicted to seaside cliffs and to his frisbee… He would bring his speakers, and we would sit on a tapestry and watch the horizon… Nadav loved life, he lived it on the edge, with an attitude of tomorrow is tomorrow and today is today, with the knowledge that anything can happen on the weekend but when Sunday rolls around there’s work with the boss and you show up.”

In a post on Instagram marking a month since he was killed, Nadav’s sister Noa wrote that it has been “30 days that I am searching for the words to speak about you and cannot find them. 30 days that home is not the same home.”

It has been “30 days that I haven’t heard your voice; 30 days that I am waiting for you to suddenly appear at home; 30 days that I am waiting for you to come and sit and eat dinner with us; 30 days that there is nobody to make Dad sandwiches for work.”

“30 days that I don’t have a big brother; 30 days that the silence at home is a different kind of silence; 30 days that the joy is not the same joy,” she continued. “It’s been 30 days since we put out a plate for you at the table and you don’t come.”

Marking 100 days since he was murdered, his mother Natali wrote on Facebook: “100 days without sleep, 100 days without your smile, 100 days without fights, 100 days of endless longing,” she wrote. “100 days that my heart is shattered into pieces.”

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