Cpl. Ofir Davidian, 18: Rookie soldier was ‘the light of the family’
Killed when Hamas terrorists overran the Urim IDF base near Gaza on October 7
Cpl. Ofir Davidian, 18, a logistics soldier in the Home Front Command, from Patish, was killed on October 7 when Hamas terrorists overran the Urim IDF base.
Ofir had only enlisted in the IDF in July 2023, and was assigned to the Urim base just three weeks before the Hamas attack, after completing basic training. That morning marked the first weekend Ofir had ever spent on the base.
When the sirens first sounded, Ofir and others ran for the shelter on base, and since she grew up in the Gaza envelope area, she was used to the sirens and calmed her friends down, according to a eulogy on the Forum Dvorah site, which seeks to highlight women’s contributions to national security.
Ofir and her fellow soldiers then returned to their living quarters, but when they realized there was a terrorist invasion, Ofir, Cpl. Lior Levy and Sgt. Itamar Ayash decided to run toward the war room, which they believed to be the safest place on base. All three were shot dead on the way by Hamas gunmen. Ultimately, four other soldiers were killed trying to defend the war room from the invasion.
Ofir was buried in Ofakim on October 9. She is survived by her parents, Lilach and Asaf, and her four younger sisters Hadar, 17, Omer, 15, Or, 12 and Lir, 6.
According to an online eulogy written by her parents, Ofir was a doting older sister, who excelled in her studies, loved music and going out dancing and was into makeup and beauty products, always wanting to look her best. As part of efforts to memorialize her, they released a line of makeup in her name.
Her sister, Hadar, wrote online, “My anchor, my sister… how could you leave us like this and just go?”
“My Ofir, you would light up every place you went, you were the light of the house, the light of the family,” she wrote. When times were hard, “you knew how to raise everyone’s spirits and to say that everything was for the best and to throw in a joke and make everyone laugh.”
“Ofir, my big sister, I love you and I loved you so much, you are my pride and my inspiration, the best sister I could ever ask for… I miss your unique laugh, I miss fighting with you, I miss you Ofir, and I can’t believe I’ll never see you again.”
Her mother, Lilach, told the Mako news site that “Ofir was very social, loved by everyone, a girl with morals who respected those around her, loved her friends and family — being family-oriented was very important to her.”
“She was energetic, full of life, loud — you could hear her for miles if she was shouting, singing or laughing or speaking loudly,” Lilach added.
On Friday night, hours before she was killed, her family brought her homemade food to the base, “she was so happy that we brought her food, we poked fun at her that she was spoiled,” said Lilach. “She always told me she wanted to be exactly like me when she grew up, giving and happy, she said she admired me and that I was a source of pride.”
Their last vacation together as a family, said Lilach, was in June in Eilat, “right before Ofir enlisted, Ofir had a fun time with her sisters before the army, she was so excited to enlist and to leave the house… this was our last trip together as a whole family.”
