The interview with 'Bamahane' before he was killed • The last WhatsApp message he sent to his friends

July 18, 2014   

IDF soldier, First Sergeant Eitan Barak, was killed last night [Thursday] in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip. His funeral will be held on Sunday at 5:00 PM at the military cemetery in Herzliya.

""He was an outstanding student at the 'new' high school, accepted and loved by everyone," Barak's friends told the Walla News website this morning. "He enlisted by choice into a combat unit like his good friends and was involved in marine sports." The principal of the school where Barak studied also spoke about the loss: "We are talking about a student who had the values ​​of giving and loving the country embedded in him. He was loved by his friends, all in sports and social activities. Them. It hurts to know that the first soldier to be killed is the one you know. I don't think everyone is internalizing this event. It will take some time.".

A few days before he was killed in IDF activity in the northern Gaza Strip, Sergeant Eitan Barak gave an interview to the military newspaper 'In the Camp'. In an article published in the 'Fighter in the Headlines' section, Barak spoke about his activities in 'Operation 'Return of the Boys'' and the arrests he made. Barak, a squad commander in the Nahal Brigade, said that from a young age he wanted to serve in a combat unit and his commanders testified that he was a highly respected commander among his soldiers. 

Here is the interview:

Sergeant Eitan Barak's Week The warrior: Sergeant Barak, 20 years old from Herzliya, company commander in the operational company of the "Shaham" battalion in the Nahal Brigade. The cut: The Asker refugee camp, near Nablus. Event description: As part of the wave of arrests of Hamas members in Judea and Samaria, the operational unit went out last week to arrest a wanted senior Hamas figure in the refugee camp. During the arrest, the force encountered disturbances from local residents, which included throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. Despite the chaos that ensued, the suspect was arrested and the incident ended without casualties. The warrior's word: ""We went on foot into the refugee camp for the arrest. The camp itself is built like a maze, with lots of narrow alleys, each one and a half meters wide. In a place like this, controlling the force is more problematic and walking is dangerous, because the residents throw stones from the roofs while we are huddled together. The IDF does not often enter crowded camps during the Ramadan fast in order to respect it, but the sensitivity of the situation forced us to," explained Sergeant Barak. "We entered quietly, but slowly people noticed us and began to organize until a riot of people gathered outside the house they were looking for. They began throwing stones, rocks, and Molotov cocktails, and we used means to disperse the demonstrations. As a company commander, I managed the riot that occurred outside the house, while my platoon commander managed the arrest inside. Finally, we arrested the suspect," he described. "During my service, I have already encountered similar incidents, but this case was horrifying in light of the residents' violent reaction towards us.". The commander's words: "איתן הגיב בצורה ראויה כשהוא מבצע ירי אמצעים לפיזור הפגנות לעבר התושבים שאיימו על הכוח בצורה משמעותית. לאורך כל תפקידו בפלוגה איתן בולט בטיפול בכיתתו ובהנעת הלוחמים לביצוע פעולות קריטיות בשגרה, וגם במבצעים כמו 'שובו אחים'", סיפר מ"פ המבצעית בגדוד, רב סרן גלעד פסטרנק. רגע לפני שנכנס לרצועת עזה יחד עם כוח הנח"ל, התכתב איתן עם חבריו בקבוצת הווטסאפ בה היה חבר. "לוקחים לי עכשיו את הפלאפון", כתב.