Staff Sgt. Itay Nahmias, 20: Talented mechanic loved to ride ATVs
Killed battling Hamas terrorists in Mivtachim on October 7
Staff Sgt. Itay Nachmias, 20, a soldier in the IDF’s Multidomain Unit, from Yesha, was killed battling Hamas terrorists in Moshav Mivtachim on October 7.
Itay was on a weekend off from his army service when the attack began, but when he heard of the Hamas invasion, he donned his uniform and joined the local security team from his hometown of Yesha, close to the southern border of Gaza, as it worked to protect the nearby towns.
Itay was killed while fighting off terrorists who were trying to murder congregants who were inside a synagogue in Mivtachim. He was slain alongside Yesha local security team members Gil Avital and Lior Ben Yaakov, and Mivtahim residents Dan Asulin and Tal Maman.
Itay was buried on October 11 in Tzohar. He is survived by his parents, Galit and Oded David, his brothers, Aviv and Or, and his sister Shelly.
Born in the Livne settlement in the South Hebron Hills, Itay moved as a young child to Omer, near Beersheba, and then at age 5 to Kibbutz Re’im before eventually settling in Yesha, according to an IDF eulogy. He attended school in nearby Kibbutz Magen, specializing in physics, chemistry and math.
Itay enlisted in the IDF in December 2021, intent on joining an elite combat unit after years of preparing himself physically for the challenge. He joined the elite Multidomain “Ghost” Unit, which was only established in 2019, and threw himself into the role.
He was described by family and friends as a man of action who researched everything that interested him in depth until he possessed a deep understanding of it. He worked out regularly and was an active wrestler who also enjoyed cooking and motorsports and learned how to build and repair vehicles.
“We all grew up in a house where we ride motorbikes and ATVs, but Itay took it to the extreme because he liked to mend them as well as ride them,” said his brothers Aviv and Or. “He had an incredible technical instinct and by the age of 10, he’d already gained the knowledge and professionalism to leave us all behind.”
His mother, Galit, who works as a midwife, told the Kan public broadcaster in August that it was clear to her that she would continue working because bringing life into the world would be her way of remembering Itay.
In March, she said, she delivered Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s niece’s baby because she would not let him break her.
“Bringing life into the world is emotional, and there are some births where I feel Itay standing with me, supporting me, and pushing me forward,” she said, adding that Itay was stubborn and couldn’t be dissuaded from whatever he set his mind to. “I hope that the babies I deliver won’t need to fight for their lives and all there is left is hope.”