“Dare to pursue your dreams, even when it’s scary”: The story of Staff Sgt. Itay Parizat
Staff Sgt. Itay Parizat, a soldier in the Givati Brigade, was killed in battle in the northern Gaza Strip on Nov. 2, 2024. He was 20, a young man whose life was defined by seriousness, love and a profound sense of purpose.
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From the moment he was born, on July 15, 2004, Itay was seen as exceptional. “He came out like an angel, fair and pure,” his mother, Limor, recalls. “Everyone who saw him would say, ‘What an angel. How did you manage to have a child like that?’”
As the eldest brother, Itay was far more than an older sibling to his brothers. His brother Saar recalls their close bond: “On Saturdays, we would go play basketball, sit together and talk about the problems in our lives. He was more than just a brother to me.”
His grandfather, Eliyahu, also describes an unusually deep bond. “I loved him more than my own son. He was a serious person, not someone who fooled around. There was no one else like him in the world.”
“A mama’s boy”
Itay was a self-described “mama’s boy,” but he was also a source of guidance for his mother. “I used to show him off when we were out, saying, ‘He’s mine,’” Limor says painfully. “He was my guide. I miss our conversations in the middle of the night.”
Alongside his deep seriousness, Itay was an athlete at heart. He was “crazy” about soccer, played for Maccabi Petah Tikva and Hapoel Herzliya and closely followed the NBA and tennis. Whatever he took an interest in, from snooker to table tennis, became something he studied intensely and strove to master.
When the time came to enlist, Itay was determined to perform the most meaningful service possible. Although his medical profile had been lowered, he fought to have it changed and insisted on serving in a combat unit. His grandfather tried to dissuade him out of concern, but Itay was adamant: “I want to serve in a combat unit.”
An injury to his hand at the beginning of the war nearly kept him out of the fighting, but Itay made his intentions clear to his family: “The moment my hand is better, I’m not letting anyone keep me out.” He fought his way back to the front lines, driven by a deep sense of mission.
Itay left an enormous void
His final conversation with his mother took place on Friday, the day before he was killed. “He called and said, ‘Mamo, how are you? I’m fine, I don’t need anything,’” she recalls. Despite his reassuring words, his family could hear the weight of the fighting in his voice.
On Saturday at 9:40 a.m., as his unit entered a building in the northern Gaza Strip, an explosive device detonated. Itay was critically wounded and died before he could reach the evacuation helicopter.
His death left an enormous void, but also a clear legacy. In his final letter to his family, he wrote words that have since become a guiding principle for them: “Dare to pursue your dreams, even when it’s scary.”
Today, his family is working to establish a memorial initiative in his name for people coping with physical and psychological injuries as well as for bereaved families. “We are taking the abilities we have and channeling them into one question: What would Itay want us to do?” his father, Yaniv, says. His mother adds: “I see Itay in each of my children. He fell for us so that we could go on living.”
Staff Sgt. Itay Parizat of the Givati Brigade was killed on Nov. 2, 2024. He was 20.
May his memory be a blessing.
Staff Sergeant
Itay Parizat