24-year-old Gal Shabbat succumbs to wounds suffered in battle with Gaza terrorists last week.
By World Israel News Staff
An IDF soldier who was wounded in combat in the northern Gaza Strip last week succumbed to his wounds Sunday, the Israeli military announced.
Major Gal Shabbat, a 24-year-old resident of the northern town of Katzir, had been serving as company commander in the IDF’s 202nd Battalion in the Paratroopers Brigade when he was wounded during a battle with terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip last Wednesday.
At the time of his death, he was engaged to be married
According to a statement by his family, Shabbat will be laid to rest at noon Monday in the IDF cemetery in the coastal city of Netanya. Shabbat is survived by his parents, a brother, a sister, and his fiancee Roni.
Shabbat was deployed with the first IDF units sent to respond to the October 7th invasion, fighting on the day of the invasion against terrorists who had infiltrated into the southern Israeli town of Sderot and Kibbutz Be’eri. His unit was also among the first to enter the Gaza Strip after October 7th, and he was active in combat there for six months.
On Wednesday, terrorists ambushed an Israeli ground force in the northern Gaza city of Jabaliya, critically wounding Shabbat.
Later that day, IDF tanks providing support to Israeli forces in Jabaliya accidentally struck an IDF position, killing five IDF soldiers and injuring eight more.
Shabbat’s death raises the IDF death toll since October 7th to 631, including 282 fatalities in the ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
“My heart is shattered,” Shabbat’s teacher, Nili Trabelsi, wrote on social media Sunday.
“I lost a beloved student, and all of Israel lost one of its most moral, purest sons.”
“A month ago, he came out of Gaza to say goodbye and give me a hug, but I wasn’t there. I missed the chance to say goodbye, to tell him how proud I was, how much I appreciated and loved him.”