Parents of slain hostage Almog Sarusi welcome newborn son, conceived in his memory

Boy, named Lavi, born via surrogacy using eggs that lay frozen for a quarter of a century; ‘We will continue on your path,’ writes sister of young man murdered in Hamas captivity

By Jessica Steinberg

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30 September 2026, 1:39 pm

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Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Bereaved father Yigal Sarusi, father of slain hostage Almog Sarusi, holds his newborn son on September 28, 2026. (Courtesy)

The parents of Almog Sarusi — who was taken hostage from the Nova desert rave on October 7, 2023, and killed in Hamas captivity — this week named their newborn son, conceived from eggs they had frozen a quarter of a century ago.

Lavi was named during a circumcision ceremony on Monday, just over a week after his birth on Yom Kippur.

Details of conception and birth, which had been kept a tight secret, were revealed Tuesday on social media by Sarusi’s sister Amit and by Chaim Broyde, the mayor of Ra’anana, the Sarusis’ hometown, who attended the ceremony.

“The loss, the pain, the longing lives in us at every moment,” Amit Sarusi wrote on Instagram. “Nothing will heal the pain, and life goes on alongside it. So, Almog, you surely already know, because you moved things up there so that it could happen. But a younger brother was also born to you, from Mom and Dad.”

“We will not let evil beat us; we will continue on your path and make you proud,” she wrote.

“At the circumcision ceremony, there was tremendous longing. Tears. Pain. And something else: a baby bringing a huge smile to a family for whom the meaning of the word ‘life’ is so profound,” wrote Broyde.

He related that two years ago, as Nira and Yigal Sarusi mourned the loss of their son Almog, they remembered eggs they had frozen 25 years earlier as part of a medical procedure.

The Sarusis, now in their 60s, located the eggs, discussed the idea with their surviving children, and found a surrogate.

It took several attempts, and the pregnancy was kept secret until the Monday afternoon ceremony in Ra’anana.

Almog Sarusi was abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Supernova music rave on October 7, 2023. His death was declared and body recovered from Gaza on September 1, 2024. (Courtesy)

“A miracle happened to us,” stated the invitation, according to Broyde.

“Thanks to a wonderful surrogate, a son was born to us on Yom Kippur,” the invitation stated. “We will forever carry in our hearts the pain over Almog, may God avenge his blood, but we are filled with hope that alongside the pain, we will be able to rejoice in the gifts that God has given us.”

Almog Sarusi, 25, went missing on October 7, when Hamas terrorists launched an assault on the Supernova music rave, killing, assaulting, and kidnapping hundreds.

According to the IDF, Sarusi was murdered in August 2024, alongside five other hostages, by their Hamas captors, not long before they were found by the Israeli military.

The other hostages were Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, and Carmel Gat, 40.