Cpt. Iftach Gorny, 51: Dairy farmer who helped found border town

Cpt. (res.) Iftach Gorny, 51, a reservist with the LOTAR counter-terror regional Nitzana team, from Be’er Milka, was killed on October 7 battling the Hamas invasion of southern Israel.

The morning of the attack, Iftach was called up with other members of the rapid-response counter-terrorism team based in the Nitzana bloc of communities on the Egypt border to join the fighting.

He was slain battling a cell of Hamas gunmen next to Yated. His comrade, Sgt. Maj. (res.) Liran Mones Almosnino, was killed not long afterward in Kibbutz Holit.

Iftach was buried on October 15 in Kadesh Barnea (Nitzanei Sinai). He is survived by his wife, Sivane, their three children, Negev, Bustan and Sade, his parents, Ilana and Moshe and his siblings Eyal, Tomer and Asaf.

Born and raised in Kibbutz Na’an, near Rehovot, Iftach loved spending time out in nature, camping, hiking and bike riding, according to a kibbutz eulogy. He played and later coached basketball, he loved to laugh and play cards and bet on stupid things, his loved ones said.

During his mandatory stint in the military, he served in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit and did reserve duty for many decades afterward. He and his wife, Sivane, were among the founders of Be’er Milka, a small community near the Egyptian border founded in 2006 with just eight caravans, a dirt path and a hookup to water and electricity.

There he ran the community’s dairy farm, helping keep the town afloat, and was an integral part of its success and development. After finishing his active reserve duty period, he joined LOTAR Nitzana, which was designed to protect the group of communities near the Nitzana border crossing with Egypt.

In an interview with the Israeli Cattle Breeders Association in May 2023, just months before he was killed, Iftach recounted moving to Be’er Milka “without street lights, without a fence, without internet, without phone lines, without sewage. It was an indescribable period, a spiritual uplifting, a great happiness. We were eight families with small children and huge dreams. We didn’t have anything, but we had everything.”

His daughter, Negev, wrote on Facebook on what would have been his 52nd birthday, wondering why he wasn’t there.

“Where are you? Where are you to wake up today and see your birthday table, to take us camping, to play whist or Settlers of Catan or poker or any other game, to cook dinner you loved for all of us and to get excited over the roast beef you cooked for hours in the oven.”

Negev wondered why her father wouldn’t “enter with your huge smile and your swinging walk, and we’ll just sit and laugh and I’ll tell you how things have been in reserve duty for the past few weeks. Or we’ll bet on something and whoever loses has to do the dishes. And in the end, you’ll wash them anyway… You’re not here, but sometimes you’re here more than you ever have been.”

Iftach’s wife, Sivane, shared on Facebook the eulogy she wrote for the ceremony marking a month since he was killed.

“Where is my anchor? Where are your strong, warm and safe hands?” she wrote. “And your sturdy shoulders that wrapped me in their warmth. Resting my head on your living, beating heart.”

Sivane wrote, “When I look back, I am filled with gratitude for every moment with you and for every breath in our precious life together. Your physical body, so full of life, strength and warmth, is no longer there. But you are alive and beating in my heart. You are with us in everything. In the wind blowing, in the clouds, in the sunrise, in the birds, in the sand of the dunes, in the sunset, in your starry sky… You are here, in every breath and beat.”

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