ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Updated:

The IDF named Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson as a fallen soldier on Sunday evening, the military announced in a press release. 

Levinson, 19 and from Giv'at Avni, served in the 77th "Oz" Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade and was killed during the Hamas attacks of October 7.

His death, however, has only just been determined after the chief rabbinic military authority evaluated all available evidence. According to reports, Levinson was in a tank that was caught by surprise when Hamas terrorists crossed the border in the early morning of October 7. His tank managed to kill around 15 terrorists with shells before being overwhelmed. Although tank driver Ido Somech managed to escape with his life, the remaining members of the tank crew were killed in the battle: Levinson, shell-loader Ofir Testa, and tank gunner Ariel Eliyahu.

IDF reservist killed in southern Gaza battle

Staff Sergeant (Res.) Uriel Aviad Silberman, 23, was killed in the southern Gaza Strip over the weekend and was also named by the IDF early Sunday.

Silberman, from Moshav Nahalim, served as a reserve combat officer in Battalion 7421, Kirithi Brigade.


Israeli forces operate in the Gaza Strip, January 21, 2024
Israeli forces operate in the Gaza Strip, January 21, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)


Silberman was a graduate of the Yeshivat Hesder in Itamar, and Rabbi Yehoshua Van Dyk, head of the yeshiva, said, "Uriel did not compromise in any area, not in his studies, not in preparing for the army, and not in his willingness to serve and sacrifice for the sanctification of God's name."

Another soldier in Silberman's battalion was seriously injured.

The two deaths announced on Sunday bring the total IDF losses since October 7 to 532.