Cpt. Idan Bloy, 21: Golani officer lived a life ‘full of purpose’
Killed battling Hamas terrorists at the Nahal Oz IDF outpost on October 7
Cpt. Idan Bloy, 21, a Golani signals officer from Rishon Lezion, was killed on October 7 battling the Hamas invasion of the Nahal Oz outpost.
When Hamas invaded the IDF outpost, Idan was among the first to race for the war room, but he later left to fight back, shooting at the terrorists while still giving orders over the radio, survivors recounted. He was killed in the firefight.
“When I got to [the war room] he was already there, doing what he needed to do and more,” recounted Maya Chailovsky. “What’s hard in that situation is to stay in command, be in control, stay calm — and he had it all at 200%.”
His family was only informed four days later that he had been killed. Idan was buried on October 12 in Holon. He is survived by his parents, Ravit and Alex, his younger sisters, Ariel and Yahli, and his girlfriend, Lihi Shamsian.
Idan was a huge fan of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team, and star player Eran Zahavi shared a photo of him taken with the young fan more than a decade earlier, writing that the fallen soldier “was a Maccabi fan from the day he was born.”
In a video published by the IDF’s Computer Service Directorate, Tomer Bargon, who served under Idan, said from the moment they met he realized he was “a cut above the rest, with incomparable professionalism, with command capabilities, and a desire to give of himself and to work for the country, for the IDF companies, for the soldiers.”
His friend Yahel Shininger wrote in Ynet that Idan was “the best of the best.”
“I can’t believe that I won’t get a text from you on my birthday that reads just ‘mazel,’ like every year,” she wrote. “That you won’t be any more at picnics and hangouts, that we won’t laugh at our shared jokes. That I won’t see you be released from the army, travel, get married — we went through all these stages together, we grew up together and now I am forced to keep growing without you.”
Girlfriend, Lihi, told Ynet that the pair met on the day they both enlisted into the army and became a couple four months later, staying together for close to three years.
“Our relationship was very unique,” she said. “We were together on the same track and we experienced extreme things together. We wanted to travel together and then get married and have kids. We did everything in unison, and it was a huge part of my life.”
Lihi was stationed in the Golan Heights on October 7, and for four days waited to hear news of Idan’s fate. “When they told me, I was still with my battalion. What went through my head was that Idan would expect me to stay and to work and not to leave. I promised him at his funeral that I will stay in the battalion, and do what he would want me to.”
At an event in his memory marking what would have been his 22nd birthday, his mother, Ravit, spoke about the times when she “holds on to small comforts.”
“The magic of the boy you were, your good life, happy, full of purpose, of action, success, friends, you got to experience a pure and true love with Lihi,” she said. “At every station in life, you left your mark — as a person, a friend, a commander… Idani loved to celebrate, to mark his birthday, every year with a big and esteemed party, with plenty of music and dancing and drinks — and we will continue this tradition.”
