Captain Yarden Zakai, 21, from Hadera, a platoon commander in the Shaked Battalion in the Givati Brigade, died of his wounds after being seriously injured a month and a half ago in battle in the southern Gaza Strip.
Zakkai was seriously injured by a weapons explosion in a building in Rafah.
He left behind his parents and two brothers.
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His funeral will be held at 1:00 PM at the old military cemetery in his city.
Captain Daniel Toaf, Sergeant Agam Naim, Sergeant Dotan Shimon and Sergeant Amit Bakari were also killed in the incident.
This brings the number of IDF casualties since the start of the war to 778.
Yarden grew up in the Beit Eliezer neighborhood in Hadera, and was educated at the Multidisciplinary High School for Sciences and Arts. The officer, who fought for his life for a month and a half, enlisted in the Egoz unit, from where he attended an officer course, after which he served as a company commander in Givati.
Tami Tzur, his educator, eulogized: "I can't believe I'm saying goodbye to you. Our plan was to sit with Ofek in Roldin and eat donuts, like last time. Yardeni, I had the honor of educating you. Always with a smile and with power, with optimism and strength. Always encouraging and helping with joy.
""You loved sitting by the window in class. It was important to you to breathe the air, the wind, and freedom. When there was noise in class, you were the one who silenced the guys in one second. Everything you took on, you did as perfectly as possible.".
She added: "When we talked about the war, you wrote to me, 'There's no question here, it will take some time but it will definitely be good. Finally, our people received a kappa or, in other words, a reminder that they must be united, no matter what politicians they are or what kind of enemies they are. We have a duty to be united in memory of the fallen and for all of our history and heritage. Unfortunately, we will always be persecuted and in order to win, we must be united shoulder to shoulder.'".
The Hadera Municipality paid tribute to the officer, a local resident: "The late Jordan, son of Yaffa and Gideon and brother of Moshe-Bar Shaked. He was an activist and instructor at the Hadera Nautical Club, and the sea was his whole world. The entire city is in pain and mourning his fall. May his memory be blessed." The Hadera Nautical Club paid tribute to the graduate who fell in battle: "With great sorrow and dark grief we announce his death.".
19 fighters were killed in the past month, and another fighter was killed in an operational accident near the border.
