One Nation

In addition to the terrible news of the 13 Golani soldiers killed in combat in northern Gaza that's just been confirmed, RIP to fallen warriors, Sgt. Bnaya Rubel, 20 of Holon and 2nd Lt. Bar Rahav, 21 of Ramat Yishai who fell in combat defending Israel yesterday. Z"L.

Sgt. Bnaya Rubel and 2nd Lt. Bar Rahav

Second Lieutenant Bar Rahav, 21, of Ramat Yishai, was killed on Saturday afternoon when he was struck by an anti-tank rocket fired at a Puma APC near the refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Mortally wounded, he was evacuated from the battlefield, but died of his wounds. Rahav is survived by his parents, Effi and Na’ama, and three siblings: his brothers Nir, 18, and Rotem, 11, and his sister Ron, 14.

A recent graduate of the officers’ course, Rahav was to have begun supplementary army studies. His uncle, Moran Binyamin, said that Rahav played water polo for Hapoel Kiryat Tivon. “Although he could have been an outstanding athlete, he chose combat service in the army,” he said. “We spoke on Thursday, and he said he was in good spirits. I was worried about him and asked whether he was protected, and he said he was all right. Then I realized that he had gone in. I was afraid for him because he always did whatever was required. I prayed that loss would not come to us. He was an amazing brother — a wonderful example for his siblings.”

Sgt. Bnaya Rubel, 20, of Holon, was also gravely wounded on Saturday afternoon in an encounter with a terrorist who emerged from a tunnel in the central Gaza Strip.

Yesterday morning an officer and a soldier were killed and four other soldiers wounded when armed men infiltrated into Israeli territory near Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha. The wounded soldiers — two of them moderately wounded and two lightly wounded — were evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva. Maj. (Res.) Amotz Greenberg, 45, of Hod Hasharon, and Sgt. Adar Barsano, 20, of Nahariya, were killed.

Haaretz