Cpt. Shalom Tzaban, 60: Firefighting chief shot and killed at dawn

Murdered in his car in his hometown of Sderot, October 7

Cpt. Shalom Tzaban, 60, the commander of the Kiryat Gat fire station, was killed by Hamas terrorists in Sderot, where he lived, on October 7.

Tzaban, a father of two, joined the fire service in 1992, and worked as a firefighter for 31 years. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of deputy fire chief.

His nephew, Dror, said on Twitter that Shalom was last seen in video footage while he was wounded by gunshots in his vehicle at 6:30 a.m. in Sderot on Saturday. The family later received the news that he had been killed.

His friend Yakir Schindler, a member of the Kiryat Gat city council, wrote on Facebook that “just like throughout his life, also today, he had great courage, risking his life in order to save others. To our great sadness he paid for it with his life.”

Tzaban’s friend and fellow firefighter Shimon Genish wrote on Facebook that the firefighter “was a great commander and a true friend who was a figure to be admired, a role model… I will always remember the beautiful moments we had together — at work and also in civilian life.”