Yuval returned home, was called up to the West Bank - and was killed: "Next year he was supposed to get married"
Major Yuval Ezra was already at home and his mother was preparing his favorite dish: kubbeh. But he was called back due to the tension in the West Bank, arrived to handle a confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis — and was shot to death by a terrorist. "We have been receiving hundreds of messages from his soldiers since," his family members share in pain. "We will bury our hero son, sit shiva, receive the final investigation — and only then will we decide whether to address the activity in which he fell."
"I always called him 'Yuval with eyes in the back of his head'," says Tania Ezra, mother of Major Yuval Ezra (of blessed memory), who was killed on Friday by terrorist gunfire after arriving to break up a confrontation that broke out between Israeli hikers and Palestinians near the village of Tel in the Nablus area.
Ezra, 27, from Beit Dagan, was a battery commander in the 411th Battalion, Fire Brigade (282) of the Artillery Corps. "He always told me: 'It will be fine, Mom. Soldiers are the ones who protect the civilians. If someone has to die first, it is us'."
In the Ezra family home in Beit Dagan, the grieving parents Tania and Haim sit, with their older sister Daniel and brother Ariel by their side. "Yuval was my little one," says Tania, who on Friday morning was preparing for her son his favorite dish: kubbeh. She glances at her cell phone and reads the message she received from her son last Tuesday: "What's up, Mom? On Saturday we would be happy to come to the pool, if possible kubbeh."
Father Haim says that last Thursday Yuval had already gone on weekend leave: "He arrived home, managed to shower and rest a little, and then they called him back to the sector. It is always tense there, and yet we hoped that he would still come home on Friday and we would spend time together as he planned." On Friday morning, Tania started preparing kubbeh for her son, but then he updated her that he would likely not be able to make it. Later, the bitter news arrived at the door of the Ezra family home.
Yuval lived in Herzliya with his fiancée Timor Lavi. Recently, he proposed to her, and the two set a wedding date for next year: June 9, 2027. "He planned to start a family and be discharged from the army," his family members said in pain.
In 2017, Ezra was drafted into the Artillery Corps. After basic training, he went to a commanders' course, and throughout his service, he held command positions. "He loved the army very much, and especially his work as a commander of soldiers," says his mother Tania. "The connection with the soldiers and the ability to influence them, help them, and be there for them — that was his love as a commander. He loved taking soldiers at the beginning of their path in the army and making them fighters."
Tania says that six years ago she received a message from the mother of a soldier who was under her son's command: "I wanted to say that you raised Yuval to be a credit. He is one of my son's mentors who pushed him and brought him to a high place. Today this boy is a major in the artillery." Since Friday, the family has been receiving hundreds of messages from his soldiers who tell what kind of commander he was. He saw his soldiers as his children.
Yuval completed a bachelor's degree as part of the Tactical Command College. Two years ago, he started a company commander position, and this coming September he was supposed to start a position as a deputy battalion commander. On October 7, Ezra fought in Be'eri, and later entered combat as part of the maneuver in Gaza.
On Friday, hikers from the "David and Ahikam Hikers" group entered the area of the village of Tel near Nablus without coordinating with the IDF, which led to a confrontation with the Palestinians — at the height of which one of them snatched a weapon and fired. Major Ezra, who stood at the head of the small force that arrived to separate the combatants, was killed as a result of the shooting. Binyahu Melet, a member of the Havat Gilad standby squad, was also shot and killed after arriving at the scene following reports from the hikers about the confrontation.
Yuval's parents and siblings are aware of the discourse surrounding the incident. Father Haim shares: "We received an initial update from the army. We are not busy with that right now. It won't bring Yuval back. Let them let us bury our hero son, sit shiva, and give him the respect he deserves. We will wait for the final investigation by the army on what happened there, and only then will we decide whether to comment on the activity in which he fell."
Daniel, the older sister, tells in pain about her little brother: "Yuval was the good and pure thing. There is no person he met on the way that he did not influence." The funeral of Yuval Ezra will take place on Sunday at 17:00 in the military section of the cemetery in Beit Dagan.
