Four reserve soldiers in Brigade 228 were killed last night (Sunday) in a clash with terrorists in southern Lebanon while searching buildings in a Shiite village.
Reserve Major Rabbi Avraham Yosef Goldberg, 43, from Jerusalem, military rabbi in Battalion 8207; Reserve Captain Amit Hayut, 29, from Haifa, platoon commander in Battalion 8207; Reserve Major Gilad Elmaleh, 30, from Jerusalem, soldier in Battalion 8207; Reserve Major Eliav Amram Abitbol, 36, from Eitan, deputy company commander in Battalion 8207.
Five additional soldiers were seriously injured in the incident - four of them from Battalion 8207 and a combat engineering officer from Brigade 228.
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Fighters from the 228th Reserve Brigade have been operating in recent days in one of the Shiite villages in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon as part of Division 91, and have so far eliminated over 20 terrorists.
An initial investigation into the difficult incident reveals that Gilad, Amit, Eliav and Avraham entered a building to search it - and a squad of terrorists opened fire on them from close range. A heroic battle ensued at the scene that lasted for hours. The rescue operations also took a long time.
According to Doron Kadosh, the military correspondent for Galts, the fighters were killed and wounded in a battle with terrorists in southern Lebanon. The details of the battle are being investigated. After the investigation, the full details will be provided to the bereaved families, and then will be published to the public.
With this, the number of casualties since the beginning of the war rose to 769.
Rabbi Avi Goldberg, the late, 43 years old from Jerusalem, a military rabbi in Battalion 8207 of the 228th 'Alon' Brigade, left behind his wife Rachel and 8 children - Yehuda, Shira, Talia, Hadas, Elyashiv, Hillel, Reut and Neve.
The school said: "Baruch Dayan Ha'amat. With deep sorrow and complete shock, we announce the death in Lebanon of our friend, Rabbi Avi Goldberg, a graduate of the school, a 12th grade teacher and a rabbi of the upper division. The classroom teachers have now entered all the classrooms to update the students, and then we will issue an announcement regarding the rest of the day.".
Noam Twitu, his close friend at the Safed Hesder Yeshiva and the director of the yeshiva, says about him: "I arrived at the yeshiva in the first class and my father had just returned from his military service in the Golani. My father loved everyone, everyone who stood next to him was sure that he was his best friend. I remember him studying his Talmud in the Beit Midrash. You could see how even when he was immersed in his studies, the environment was important to him, and it was important to him that everyone around him had what they needed.
""We had a wedding band that we formed from a group that studied together in Safed. He would play wind instruments with great talent, with his soul shining through his playing. When we would finish and still give us time to start dancing at weddings, we would sit together and always talk about the Torah with joy and enthusiasm. It is said of him, 'And he was red with beautiful eyes and good in appearance.' He was like King David incarnate, our faithful witness. I was blessed to have a true friend with whom I was better than myself. For that, our hearts would melt, "Oh, what we had.".
Captain Amit Hayut, the 14th, platoon commander 2 in the company, 29 years old, resident of Neve Sha'anan in Haifa, will be laid to rest at 1:00 PM in the Haifa Military Cemetery. Shuttles will leave at 12:00 PM from the Rambam Center in Neve Sha'anan. The family will sit in seclusion at 16 Zion Street.
Sergeant Major Gilad Elmaleh, 30 years old, a resident of the Ramot neighborhood in Jerusalem, will be laid to rest at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery at 4:15 p.m. The family will sit in seclusion at 37/27 Harry Truman Street in Jerusalem.
The Sderot Hesder Yeshiva said, "We mourn bitterly the fall in Lebanon of our graduate Gilad Elmaleh, the 14th, in the fight for the revival of Israel and the defense of the north. Our hearts and prayers are with his wife, children and family.".
Rabbi Nadav Schiff, his close friend from the Sderot Hesder Yeshiva and a rabbi in the yeshiva, eulogized him: "Gilad was a learned scholar who read and memorized with amazing diligence, pondering the Torah with love and without ceasing. His Torah radiated in the illumination of his face, full of sweetness. He pursued kindness out of the austerity of the sect, seeking out those people, young and old alike, who were less prominent in order to be their friend, to listen, to support and to help.".
""Gilad was filled with a love of life in simplicity, and radiated peace to the entire group. His friends never remember him complaining or not having his shy smile on his face, and he always emphasized that he was confident and trusted in God's guidance of his world.
""Gilad built his house with joy and out of a sense of mission on the chain of Israel's eternity, and emphasized that this was his mission. He loved our country with all his heart and looked forward to its salvation. The scripture says about him: 'Israel, in whom I will glory.'".
Major Eliav Amram Abitbol, the late, 36 years old from Eitan, was a deputy company commander in Battalion 8207. He left behind his wife Tal and 4 orphans.
His funeral will take place tonight on Mount Herzl at 10:30 PM.
Shapir Regional Council head Adir Naaman wrote: "After a difficult and shocking holiday in which we lost 13 of our best sons, we are informed tonight with great sadness of another painful loss to the council: Captain Eliav Abitbol, from the Eitan Extension, fell in the battles in Lebanon, while bravely standing on the mission of defending the homeland," he wrote.
""There are no words that can describe the magnitude of the sorrow and pain that we all feel at this time. Our hearts go out to his dear wife, Tal, and his four children, who are now carrying the burden of bereavement and unimaginable loss. On behalf of all the residents of the Shafir Regional Council, we hug you and send you and the entire Abitbol family our deepest condolences. May you know no more sorrow and may you be comforted from heaven.".
His brother Avidan eulogized him: "Eliab the righteous was proof that it is possible to combine Torah and service, the army and a life of Torah. He was a God-fearing man who was as strict as he was gentle and set aside many times for Torah alone and with his children.".
He said that his brother was a symbol of endless giving: about two years ago, he donated a kidney to a person he did not know, and even though he could have left the reserves, he continued in his position and was even supposed to take a military training course that started two weeks ago. In addition to his work as a civil engineer, Eliav and his wife Tal were "parents" of 12 children at the Talpiot daycare center in Hadera for about 7 years.
Three armored fighters were killed early Friday morning in action in the northern Gaza Strip: Captain Barak Israel, 22, from Petah Tikva, a platoon commander in the tank commanders' course in Battalion 196; and two trainees in the course, Sergeant Ido Ben Zvi, 21, from Mishmaret, and Sergeant Hillel Eliyahu Ovadia, 22, from Jerusalem.
As part of the siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, a tank from the 196th Armored Battalion was hit while traveling, apparently by an IED. The three fighters were killed by the force of the explosion and another fighter was wounded.
Forces from the Givati Brigade and the 460th Armored Brigade surrounded the hospital and, in coordination with the UN, evacuated 23 hospitalized patients, most of them children, to other hospitals in the Gaza Strip with their companions.
