Staff Sgt. Itamar Bruchim, 20: Born leader lived fully in the moment
Killed by a Hamas rocket strike in Sderot on October 8, 2023
Staff Sgt. Josef Itamar Bruchim, 20, a commander in the Paratroopers Brigade from Ashdod, was killed battling Hamas terrorists in southern Israel on October 8, 2023.
On October 7, Itamar was at his girlfriend Lior’s house. When the sirens began and he realized what was happening, Itamar went home to pick up his gear and joined his commander and soldiers in Sderot where they rescued civilians who were trapped in their homes.
The next morning, he was wounded by a rocket fired by Hamas at Sderot and died a short while later in the hospital.
He was buried on October 11 in Ashdod. He is survived by his parents, Orly and Meir, his siblings, Inbal and Nadav, and his girlfriend Lior.
Itamar was an artistic person who enjoyed drawing, acting, and playing the guitar, the mandolin and the trombone, his loved ones said in a municipal obituary. He was only weeks away from getting out of his military service, was planning a post-army trip, and had signed up for an aircraft security course.
“Itamar loved life, loved sport, and was a workout freak,” his father, Meir, told a local news outlet. “He knew love and a good relationship and lived every day like there was no tomorrow — with two feet on the ground and plans for the future.”
After visiting the family, former prime minister Naftali Bennett said that Itamar’s parents told him that he had been a born leader.
His girlfriend, Lior, shared on a memorial page that he was a “special kid with a big heart and the willingness to invest and give of himself to those around him.”
She also wrote that Itamar had made a massive effort to be there to support her for one of her final ceremonies in basic training. After a night of training with his soldiers, Lior wrote, Itamar walked an hour to the bus station where he caught the first of multiple buses so that he could be there to support her.
Itamar’s best friend from high school, Erez, wrote that they did everything together, including working out, hiking, and a student exchange in Germany.
“Even when most of our friends wouldn’t try new things, he went and tried them because he thought it was worth it. That was one of the things I learned from him and took into my own life — go with what you believe in and do it with a smile,” Erez wrote.
Another friend, Sharon, wrote that Itamar’s “smile would just light up any place he was and provide an atmosphere of warmth.”
“One word from him was enough to make everyone cry from laughter and improve the mood in a moment. The thing I learned from Itamar was to live without fear, live in the moment, in the manner I want without worrying about what others think or say,” she wrote.
One of Itamar’s soldiers, Eliran, wrote that he had always known what to say and paid attention to the small things.
“That’s how he was as a commander, always looking at the smallest details until everything was perfect. Just as he pushed me in training, he pushed the whole team to the highest level,” he wrote, adding that Itamar was “a golden man who taught me to keep pulling people forward.”
