Shalev Gal, 23: Partygoer was slated to begin degree after festival

Shalev Gal, 23, from Ahuzat Barak, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7.

Shalev attended the rave with his friends, siblings Gideon and Noa Chiell, and their friend Tamar Goldenberg.

When the rocket fire began, the four of them left together via car and tried to head home on Route 232. They made it to the Mefalsim Junction, where Hamas terrorists fired an RPG at their vehicle and all four of them were killed.

Shalev was buried in Ahuzat Barak. He is survived by his parents, Lizet and Tzvika, and his twin brother Asaf.

He grew up in the small town in the north, near Afula, standing out with his signature reddish blonde hair and blue eyes. He loved nightlife and music festivals, finding freedom dancing to trance music.

Shalev had a strong connection to Latin culture, spoke fluent Spanish, listened to Latin music and spent time traveling in Colombia, his family said. He loved to cook with his mother and watch soccer with his father, according to a memorial video.

In high school, he was diagnosed with epilepsy, but he refused to let it get him down and was always pushing himself toward success, his family said. He was working at Marom Dolphin, which produces military gear for the IDF, and he was slated to start a degree in project management shortly after he was killed.

Rotem Adom, a family friend, wrote on Facebook that “biologically we’re not siblings, we were born to different mothers in different parts of the country, but in feelings, we are completely. You and Asaf are my little brothers in every way.”

Rotem said that since Shalev was killed, “a piece of our heart has been taken and we have to learn to live with a perforated heart. My blue-eyed brother, the most sensitive person I ever met in my life, everyone who met him immediately fell in love with him.”

Shalev’s twin brother, Asaf, wrote on social media that he wouldn’t share a “moving post with beautiful words, my brother, what I have to tell you I say to you every night with tears in my eyes.”

Instead, he shared a photo of the pair of them embracing, saying he wanted people to “see us, happy and joyful. Only God knows how much I miss you, they took half of me, from my heart and my body and my thoughts and everything. You’re my twin brother and you’ll stay my twin brother forever.”

“I already have so much to tell you on our birthday, and I promise you that you’ll be proud of me,” he added. “I love you my brother, a true and honest and pure love. Thank you for everything.”

Read more Those We Have Lost stories here.