“Niv became a symbol because of how she chose to fight and live”: the mother of the young woman who touched an entire nation speaks

She fought like a lioness, drew tens of thousands after her, and became a symbol of faith and commitment to life, even in the hardest moments. A week after the death of Niv Hazan Avitan, who died at 29, her mother Gali speaks in her first interview about the enormous void left at home after the mourners left, the final wish on the beach that was fulfilled against all odds, and the book she wrote that became her daughter’s testament: “Niv finished her journey here, now it is my turn to continue her light.” Hagar Amgar, N12, published: 11.06.26, 06:24. The story of Niv Hazan Avitan, who suffered for more than three years from a rare and aggressive cervical cancer and died about a week ago at the age of 29, touched the hearts of many Israelis. Her mother Gali says today, for the first time, about the enormous pain in the void she left behind, the final days beside her daughter, the thousands who came to console them, and the book she wrote that became her daughter’s testament.

“Honestly? I have no idea how to go on from here,” Gali begins. “A moment ago I was a mother fighting for my child with all my strength, and suddenly... silence. After thousands of people were here until late at night during the shiva, suddenly everyone went home and I was left in my house, feeling like a stranger in it. I walk between the rooms looking for her, waiting to hear her voice calling me, Mom.”

Niv Chaya Hazan, of blessed memory, and her mother | Photo: Or Sade

The final wish

“A week before Niv died, I asked her if there was anything she wanted, and she answered that she wanted home. At the same time, her husband Yam asked her which beach she would want to reach, and she immediately answered Mikhmoret. It was not at all a simple task, because Niv could no longer get onto a regular ambulance stretcher, but Tel Hashomer Hospital rallied wholeheartedly to fulfill her request. They provided us with the hospital’s transport vehicle and at the same time paid for a private ambulance that drove behind the transport vehicle, so that we could fulfill Niv’s wish. I will never forget that moment, the humanity and everyone’s desire to help. My cousin arranged for us to receive entry permission to the Mikhmoret kibbutz, and we managed to get right to the water. Niv sat facing the sea she loved so much, and from there we took her home for two nights. Yam and I are so happy we did not give up and fulfilled that request for her. Less than a week later, my Niv died.”

Niv’s final wish, of blessed memory

“Niv’s deterioration was hard and cruel. Every day that passed I stood and looked at her while holding her hand, and quietly asked myself how far this could still go?”

“I believed until the end. I believed Niv’s story would end differently and that there would be a miracle here, and I believed that God would surprise us all. But there came a point when my eyes began to see things my heart refused to accept. Niv’s deterioration was hard and cruel. Every day that passed I stood and looked at her while holding her hand, and quietly asked myself how far this could still go? How much more pain? How much more suffering? How could my child, who suffered so much for three years, still continue to go through more and more?

“Our role is to protect our children. To fight for them, to take away their pain if only we could, and in those last days, for the first time in my life, I stood helpless. I could not take her pain away and I could not save her.”

Niv Chaya Hazan, of blessed memory

Gali describes the endless sense of loss and the desire to draw from what remains of her beloved daughter: “I touch her clothes, smell them, and suddenly everything small that is left of her has a different meaning. I hug her things as if through them I can feel her a little longer. As if if I only hold them tightly enough, she will walk through the door and say, Mom, what are you doing? But the door does not open, and that silence breaks me every time anew.”

“There is an emptiness that cannot be explained in words, a pain that has no name. No mother in the world is supposed to know what it feels like to wake up in the morning without her child, and I still cannot accept that my Niv is gone and I beg someone to wake me from this nightmare. This is a reality I still cannot absorb and I do not know how to continue. I only know that I ask God for strength to get through one more day. I wanted the ground to swallow me with her. When Niv was buried, I felt that I too was being buried. It is inhuman pain, impossible to describe.”

“A rabbi came to the shiva and said a sentence that has not left my mind: ‘Niv managed to do what great rabbis cannot do even in 20 years.’ That did not surprise me either. If there is one thing I am certain of, it is that Niv left a mark on this world that cannot be erased.”

“She was light, and people felt it”

Thousands of people came to the shiva, most of them strangers to you. Niv touched tens of thousands who did not know her personally. What do you think about that?

“Honestly? Even in the greatest pain of my life, there are moments when I simply stand and cry from emotion. During the shiva, thousands of people came from all over the country, religious, secular, young, old. People we had never met, people came with pictures of Niv, with stories, with tears, with tattoos of ‘And you shall choose life.’ With a feeling that they had lost someone who was part of their lives.

“I looked at all of this and was not surprised, I knew who Niv was. I was blessed to be her mother for 29 years, blessed to know her huge heart, her modesty, sensitivity, generosity, smile, and her ability to see every person. Niv never sought publicity or for people to talk about her, she was simply light and people felt it. A rabbi came to the shiva and said a sentence that has not left my mind: ‘Niv managed to do what great rabbis cannot do even in 20 years.’ That did not surprise me either. If there is one thing I am certain of, it is that Niv left a mark on this world that cannot be erased. And the most moving thing? That she did not become a symbol because of how she died, Niv became a symbol because of how she lived and how she coped.”

For three years, Gali did not leave her daughter for a moment. She fought bureaucracy, organized mass prayers, raised millions of shekels for advanced treatments, all in order to save her daughter.

“I fought for her with all my strength, there was no place in the world we did not reach, there was no doctor we did not speak to. There was no prayer I did not pray or effort I did not make. I promised her she would be healthy, that Mom was here and that it would be good, and she believed me. And to this day I ask myself if I did enough, if I missed something. And I know people tell me I fought like a lioness. But my heart will always continue to ask itself questions.”

“The death took my daughter, but not the mission”

After the struggle and your dedication to Niv throughout the illness, you are continuing to work to memorialize her. Tell me about the plans.

“The moment my Niv closed her eyes it was clear to me that one thing would never happen, my Niv would not be forgotten. I will tell about her and continue her path. I will continue to spread her goodness, faith, and light, and the phrase so closely associated with her, ‘And you shall choose life.’ I want every girl, every mother, every person going through a crisis, to know Niv. Not because of the illness and suffering she went through, but because of who she was and how she fought and did not give up for a moment.”

“I intend to continue the lecture and publish the book I wrote. To establish projects in her memory. To lecture, write, embrace, and strengthen people. And if there is one thing my daughter taught me in those three years, it is that you can go through hell and still choose life. I promise you, my Nivi, with all my heart and all my soul, that I will continue you. I will make sure people know who Niv Chaya was. I know one thing for certain, death took my daughter, but it will not take away her mission from me. Because she may have finished her journey here, but I am beginning mine through her.”

The book that became a testament

“When I started writing, I did not think at all that I would publish a book. I did it to breathe, I wrote in the middle of the night and in hospitals. I wrote out of fear and also faith, because I wanted to leave my children something of me. Niv knew I was writing and sometimes asked me to read to her, she was so supportive and said to me, ‘Mom, this book has to come out.’ She believed in me יותר than I believed in myself. Niv and my Ron are my inspiration and the reason I started writing, this book is dedicated to them. It is a book of a mother who did not give up, a book about faith and falls and the choice to get up again, even in moments when it seems there is no air to breathe. Later, the lecture was also born. All I wanted was to give people strength, give perspective, strengthen them and show that even from the darkest darkness you can find faith. The first person who heard my lecture was Niv, I will never forget that moment: she was lying on the couch in the living room, weak and in pain, I read the lecture to her and she cried from emotion, and said: ‘Mom, I know who you are and I know what you are capable of giving people. As you do for me, do for others too.’ Those words are engraved in my heart. And I have my son Ron, who worries about me so much and does not leave me for a moment. He always says to me: Mom, you and I are one punch. We will cry, mourn, and rise together, and we have another home... we will be at Nivi’s a lot.

My Niv managed to touch the heart of an entire people while she was here, so I promise her with all my heart and all my soul that from now on I will continue to make the world know my Niv Chaya. Because there are people who leave the world and there are souls that remain living in it forever.”

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