On October 7th, 2023, Matan and some of his best friends were on the Nova Music Festival in Re'im, when the attack from Gaza broke out. Thousands of party goers were running for their lives, many were killed, tortured, or taken hostage into Gaza.
Matan and his friends helped many of them to escape, and finally got into his dad's SUV and drove out of the party area. Reaching a shelter on the side of the road, they squeezed in, when they heard gun shootings outside. Matan and another friend, Sela, decided to come out of the shelter and face the attackers, in an attempt to protect those inside the shelter. They ran outside, towards with attackers, with their bare hands. Sela was severely injured and Matan was killed on the spot. Two of his other friends, Ilay Nachman and Adir Mesika, were also in the shelter and later tried to face the attackers themselves, and were shot to death. May their memory live forever.
The families of Matan, Ilay and Adir have decided to dedicate their lives to helping others, by setting up the Non Profit Organization, AIM (Adir, Ilay, Matan) which helps post-traumatic populations take up surfing as a therapy.
Matan's life has been commemorated through art exhibitions, yoga workshops, and quiet benches overlooking the ocean that Matan loved so much.
His legacy as a positive, open and humble person will live forever.
