Itai Yehuda Bausi was a 22-year-old Sergeant First Class in the Duvdevan commando unit who was killed on October 7 while off-duty and attending the Supernova music festival. Itai grew up in the Kvutzat Yavne kibbutz and was just two months away from completing his army service. Witnesses said he bravely fought terrorists with his bare hands and cared for the wounded before he was killed. After spending Shabbat at home with his family, he went to the festival and left a message for his girlfriend Carmel saying he had been shot in the back and leg but was okay and that he loved her. His mother Julie shared, “We now know that Itai and his friend Ben chose not to run and there are videos of them on the front lines with a first-aid bag. We are pretty sure he crawled to a field and was alone when he died but we’ll never know.”
Itai and Carmel had dreamed of marrying, living in the north, raising three children, and keeping sheep. Julie described him as “loyal, loving, humble, funny, and a lot of fun to be around.” She said, “He was the most Israeli of my four children… When he died, I thought, ‘He’s never going to see the leaves change color in Vermont in the fall,’ and I realized, he didn’t care.” At his funeral, Carmel eulogized him as her “warrior” and shared their dreams of flying to Jamaica, living in a small house with dogs and sheep, and having children running barefoot with curly hair. “We were meant to grow old together, but that’s all gone now, because you left me here, crushed, hurting to my core.” Itai is survived by his parents Julie and Shahar and siblings Noa, Yoav, and Assaf. He was buried on October 12 in Kvutzat Yavne.
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