Uriel Baruch, 35: Father of two was a ‘man of joy and happiness’

Uriel Baruch, 35, from Jerusalem, was murdered while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7 and his body kidnapped to Gaza.

His remains were returned to Israel on October 14, 2025.

He attended the rave with his friend, Michel Yoav, and the two fled the site of the festival in Uriel’s car when the Hamas attack began. They encountered a cell of terrorists at the Mefalsim Junction who opened fire on the car.

Uriel’s family came across videos which showed Michel shot dead in the car and Uriel on the ground nearby, but they did not know his fate. They were later told by the IDF that he was believed to be taken captive to Gaza.

In March 2024, the IDF informed his family based on new intelligence that Uriel had been killed on October 7 and his body taken hostage. The family sat shiva, the weeklong mourning period, but did not hold a funeral.

Following a ceasefire deal, Uriel’s body was returned to Israel in October 2025. He was buried in Jerusalem on October 19, 2025, two years after he was killed.

Uriel is survived by his wife, Racheli, his two sons, Shalev, 8, and Ofek, 5, his parents, Naomi and Amir, and his three siblings, Roee, Idan and Ohad.

The third of four brothers, Uriel was born in Kfar Saba, and later moved to the Haredi neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo in Jerusalem, where he attended religious schools.

Uriel worked in construction, selling supplies to contractors. He loved techno music and music festivals, and met his wife, Racheli, at such a festival. The couple wed and settled in Giv’on HaHadasha, a West Bank settlement just outside Jerusalem.

His father-in-law, Dan Anteby, told the Ynet news site that Uriel “was a happy and cheerful person.”

“He was a man of joy, happiness, and an eternal smile,” he added. “Tomorrow didn’t interest him for a moment, the past didn’t interest him because it happened already. He lived in the present and finished his day satisfied, smiling and laughing.”

Dan said that his son-in-law loved parties and festivals, and “was a happy dad, he would goof around with the kids, he adapted himself to their ages and would laugh with them. He was modest. We’ll hold on to good memories of him.”

His wife, Racheli, wrote online that as soon as they met, “we immediately realized that we belonged to each other, and a great love blossomed between us.”

“We are different in every aspect,” she added. “Uriel believes that we came into the world to have fun, he likes to celebrate with friends, dance and spend time at parties. I am a woman of home and work, of a boring routine… anyone who meets us has a hard time believing that we are a couple, but in essence we are two halves of a whole.”

At his funeral, his mother, Naomi praised her late son as “a devoted father to Shalev and to Ofek; when you spoke to them your eyes sparkled. I always said that your name was special — [literally:] the light of God.”

His father Amir eulogized his son as “always the first to help, always a person of goodwill, always with a smile, with love,” and asked his son to “continue to light up our lives from above, like you lit it up from below.”

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