Yakir Ya’akov Levi, 21, from Hafetz Haim, fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF announced on Sunday.
Levi, from the 601st Battalion, was promoted to the rank of sergeant posthumously.
He studied at the Sha’alvim hesder yeshiva along with fellow fallen soldier Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist, who was killed in the same incident. “They did not separate, in life nor death,” the yeshiva eulogized.
Israel announces the deaths of eight fighters who fell in battle against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.Cpt. Wassem Mahmoud, 23Sgt. Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist, 21Sgt. Itay Amar, 19Sgt. Stanislav Kostarev, 21Sgt. Or Blumovitz, 20Sgt. Oz Yeshaya Gruber, 20Cpt. (res.) Eitan… pic.twitter.com/smKw9Z2o85
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) June 16, 2024
Yeshiva head Rav Michael Yammer said “they had something in common, which was to do right by God and right by the people who surrounded them, it was in their wide hearts. When I last spoke to them both, recently, they told me that the only thing they deem important at this time is to give to their people. They put it at the top of their priority list to give as much as they could do their religious duty. They were men of kindness, they were sensitive, and they understood each other, they were people of the community. This expressed itself in two ways: In the fighting they participated in, and in their giving to everyone around them.”
Rabbi Zechariah Rabinovich, who taught both men in the yeshiva, said Levi was “a man with such a warm countenance, friendliness, and grace. He was a sharp thinker. The last time he visited the yeshiva, he sat to study with me, and he had such bright light in his eyes. He was determined to win and not give up, to march with his head held high and give his all.”