Cpt. Daniel Perez, 22: South African immigrant and tank commander

Cpt. Daniel Perez, 22, a platoon commander in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion, from Yad Binyamin, was killed battling Hamas on October 7 and his body kidnapped to Gaza. It was returned to Israel in October 2025.

Daniel was stationed near the Gaza border that Saturday morning, and he and his tank crew fought for hours against the Hamas invasion of the Nahal Oz IDF outpost until Daniel was killed alongside Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz and Staff Sgt. Itay Chen.

The bodies of Daniel and Itay were taken captive to Gaza, while their comrade Matan Angrest was captured alive and kidnapped to the Strip, and freed on October 13, 2025.

In March 2024, the IDF declared – based on findings and new intelligence information – that Daniel had been killed on October 7. The military’s chief rabbi determined that the family could hold a funeral, burying his blood-soaked clothing, and sit shiva for Daniel. On October 13, 2025, Daniel’s body was returned to Israel by Hamas.

His initial funeral was held on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on March 18, 2024. His family held a second funeral on October 15, 2025. He is survived by his parents, Doron and Shelley (Sharon), and his siblings Yonatan, Adina and Shira.

Yonatan was himself wounded on October 7, yet he went ahead with his planned wedding just two weeks later, and subsequently named his firstborn after Daniel.

Daniel, the second-oldest in the family, was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he attended religious schools.

He and his family moved to Israel in 2014, shortly after Daniel’s bar mitzvah, and settled in Yad Binyamin. His father, Rabbi Doron Perez, is the executive chairman of the Mizrachi World Movement.

Daniel attended high school in Yeruham in Israel’s south. He loved wakeboarding and other extreme sports, supported the Liverpool soccer team and enjoyed computer games.

After high school, he attended the Beit Yatir pre-military academy in the southern Hebron Hills, where he also worked to recover from a wakeboarding injury that threatened to affect his military career path.

When the COVID pandemic shut down much of the country, Daniel got a job with the Health Ministry approving or rejecting people submitting requests to end their quarantine.

In November 2020, Daniel enlisted in the IDF and joined the Armored Corps, thrilled to work with tanks. He eventually completed a tank commander’s course and later an officer’s course. In July 2023, he and his team were stationed near the Gaza border.

“Daniel was on the move all the time. If he wanted to do something, he was completely focused,” his mother said in an interview. “If there was a subject he liked, he would excel at it. He made friends within days of coming to live in Yad Binyamin, it was really incredible how quickly he integrated and learnt the language.”

Her son, she said, “really enjoyed the freedom of being able to travel around independently. Daniel and his friends made use of every minute they had together, going on buses all over Israel to beaches, natural springs, and restaurants – Daniel loved eating out. He would do anything for his friends, a true and loyal friend.”

Daniel “was a real mensch,” Shelley added. “He wasn’t super talkative at home, but I knew that he loved being out and about with friends. We learnt early on that Daniel needed a lot of freedom and thrived when out with friends. He would visit his Anglo friends in Herzliya and go running at 6 in the morning on the beach there, always convincing a friend to come with him.

She added that “when he was home, he would often have friends over for barbecues. I noticed that these boys were never really on their phones; they were talking most of the time. Daniel formed deep, meaningful relationships.”

At his first funeral, his sister, Shira, said that Daniel “entered the heart of everyone who met you. You were an amazing brother, an exemplary friend, commander, soldier and person. You are an inspirational figure for all of the nation of Israel.”

“I love you,” she added. “We’ll never stop crying, but I promise to keep your memory alive forever. Thank you for the merit of being the sister of a hero of Israel.”

Read more Those We Have Lost stories here.