‘You didn’t go in vain’: Uriel Baruch, killed on Oct. 7, laid to rest after Hamas returns body

The family of slain hostage Uriel Baruch, whose body was returned to Israel last week, laid their loved one to rest in Jerusalem on Sunday, two years after he was killed by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.

After close family members eulogized Uriel, President Isaac Herzog and far-right Minister of Public Security Itamar Ben Gvir also spoke at the funeral, with the former urging the return of all remaining hostages’ bodies from Gaza, and the latter calling for terrorists to be executed.

The former hostage’s wife, Racheli Baruch, said she began writing his eulogy on October 13, 2023, after hearing that her husband’s friend, Michel Yoav, was murdered while they fled the Nova music festival together.

In March 2024, Israeli authorities determined that Baruch had been killed on October 7 and his body taken to Gaza.

Racheli spoke of their love and their six years of marriage, which included their two sons, Shalev and Ofek.

“You have no idea how much I’ll miss you,” said the young widow. “How much I’ll miss your silliness. I can’t understand how I’m supposed to go on from here. How is a 31-year-old woman supposed to carry the title ‘widow’? How were our lives cut short like this? We still had so many plans! It’s going to be so hard without you.”

She described her slain husband as a “playful soul who wanted to devour life,” thanked him for all he had taught her, for the amazing people who surround them, for their son who resembles him so much, and for choosing her.

Roee Baruch, one of Uriel’s two brothers, said he never gave up on the fight to bring Uriel’s body home.

“People told me so many times, ‘Enough, rest, move on,’” he said. “But Uriel, I want you to know — I never gave up on you, not for a single second. Even when it seemed hopeless, even when everything was total darkness, I kept going and didn’t stop — because you are my brother, and I will never, ever give up on my brother.”

He said Uriel, whom he calls “Badalu,” had become a brother to all the people of Israel.

“People everywhere, across the country and around the world, prayed, hoped, embraced, supported, and cried with us,” Roee said. “Everyone feels like they knew you. You’ve become a symbol of peace, love, hope, and unity.”

‘Always the first to help’

The hostage’s mother, Naomi Baruch, said she never imagined a moment like this, “not with you wrapped in a flag inside a coffin, not buried in the ground. I imagined the moment when I would run to embrace you, hold you close to my heart so it could finally heal.”

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.”

Uriel’s 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.”

He added: “You didn’t go in vain, the nation of Israel was unified thanks to you. The nation of Israel understood the message — we love each other.”

Herzog calls for return of all remaining hostages’ bodies

In his remarks at the funeral, President Isaac Herzog called for the return of the bodies of slain hostages that remain in Gaza, and expressed hope that Baruch’s burial in Israel would provide his family some closure.

“From this moving and painful platform, too, we cry out, and hope, and demand, the return of all our brothers, the slain hostages — until the last of them — and call for action by all means to return them to eternal resting places in the ground of their homeland.”

“And amid all that — the heart struggles to absorb the contradiction, between the strength of our joy at the return of our living brothers and sisters, and the infinite pain for all our loved ones that we were too late to save,” the president said.

Jerusalem mayor Moshe Lion mourned a “generous and ethical man, a good and loyal friend, a loving and devoted family man,” whom, he said, “we have all come to know over the last two years.”

In eulogy, Ben Gvir demands death penalty for terrorists

Ben Gvir also spoke at the funeral, eulogizing Baruch and demanding hawkish policies in his memory.

“Uriel was a hero, he fell as a hero, he was murdered because he was a Jew, to sanctify God’s name,” Ben Gvir said, as he compared the slain hostage to the ancient Rabbi Akiva, who was martyred by Rome.

Then the far-right minister demanded “two things: That we dismantle them, that they won’t have any more Jeeps, no more Toyotas, no more cars going around, no more Hamas guys with weapons” — apparent references to scenes from the terror group’s invasion of Israel two years ago.

He continued: “And the second thing, which is no less important: Death penalty for terrorists.”

Ben Gvir, who has proudly worsened conditions for Palestinian security prisoners, said that prior to his entry into office, inmates enjoyed nose jobs, 10-hour strolls outside, eight hour showers, television, and radio, but: “Thank God, we made a change.”

“We have to end their motivation to murder, to kidnap, to take, to kill, to rape. And so, it’s moral, it’s religiously permissible, it’s correct, it’s true — I say, all the time, to our dear prime minister: I love you, but we want the death penalty for those murderers. We won’t rest, and we won’t be quiet. We will do everything to make it a reality,” he said, as he concluded his remarks.