Keinan had written his grandmother just two months ago that it would be “the greatest merit in the world” to die for his country.
Sgt. Maj. (res.) Idan Keinan was killed Saturday in the northern Gaza Strip by a sniper, the IDF announced Sunday after informing his family.
According to Channel 14 military affairs reporter Noam Amir, the actions of the sniper were typical of how Hamas operates now in Gaza.
“We’re simply talking about a terrorist, a mouse who lives underground, comes out of his tunnel, shoots, and flees,” he noted on the Yisrael Haboker (Israel This Morning) show.
“This is basically now the reality,” he said, as “Hamas has stopped existing as a military organization in the Strip and the terrorists are mainly operating as small guerrilla units who are sent out to commit sporadic terror attacks.”
The 21-year-old from Ramat Gan was part of the Nachshon Battalion in the Kfir Brigade, operating in Beit Lahia on the outskirts of the major town of Jabalia that has been the focus of the IDF’s attention in recent weeks, with over a thousand Hamas terrorists captured and another thousand killed, according to the IDF.
He is survived by his parents, a brother and a sister, Linoy, who wrote in a social media post that Keinan had “died as a hero,” but that she “will never manage to get over a loss such as you.”
“I can’t believe that you left me like that and went to Heaven, my beloved brother,” she wrote, describing him as “the most good-hearted boy in the world” and asking him to “protect us from above.”
She also posted a letter that her brother had written to his grandmother two months ago about his strong feelings for his country and people.
After talking of two soldiers who had recently been killed in action, he noted that they died “for the country and we all know it…and are happy to be here instead of the civilians and the country that we so love.”
“Know that no matter what happens I … know exactly what I’m doing and where I am,” he wrote in part. “I know what the risks are and what can happen and I am at peace with it. Moreover, this is the path that I have chosen and this is the path that I believe every man in the country should choose. There aren’t – and never will be – anyone else to protect us but us.”
“If our Father in Heaven decides that someone needs to die for our people, it’s the greatest merit in the world,” he added.
Keinan had posted to Instagram last October 7 when Hamas invaded Israel, slaughtering 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, triggering his call-up, that “No one here will sleep until you [all] feel safe, I promise you.”
Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama Cohen, called the fallen soldier “an angel and brave sharpshooter” who was “suffused with love of country and the Jewish people…. We in the municipality will do all we can to hug and strengthen the precious family.”