Cpt. Shilo Cohen, 24: Shaldag commander taught himself to weld

Cpt. Shilo Cohen, 24, a team commander in the elite Shaldag unit, from Sderot, was killed on October 7 battling the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be’eri.

At the start of the attack, Shilo was home in Sderot with his family. Without waiting to be summoned, he headed out to take part in the battles and joined up with a group of Sayeret Matkal soldiers.

They headed first to Kibbutz Mefalsim, battling Hamas gunmen there, and later to outside Kibbutz Alumim, before they were told to head to Be’eri in the later hours of the day.

Inside Be’eri, they went home by home looking for Hamas terrorists who were holed up inside. Inside the third house they entered, Shilo was shot and wounded and Lt. Nave Lax was killed by gunfire. But Shilo kept going, and in the next home he was shot again, ultimately bleeding out from his wounds.

Shilo was buried on October 9 in Sderot. He is survived by his parents, Ruti and Aryeh, and his siblings Itay, Ravid, Izhar and Tchiya.

Born and raised in Sderot, Shilo was the middle child among his four siblings. He was an active participant and later camper in the local Bnei Akiva chapter, according to a Shaldag eulogy.

Shilo loved to travel around Israel, spend time hiking in nature and camping. He was also great with his hands, including learning how to weld professionally.

He enlisted in the IDF in December 2019, joining the Israeli Air Force’s elite Shaldag commando unit. He later completed an officer’s course, and commanded his own team in Shaldag for 11 months, until he was killed.

His older sister, Ravid, wrote on Instagram that she had heard so much in the wake of his death “about how you were such a hero.”

“The people you fought with speak with admiration about a super-warrior,” she wrote. “And even though I didn’t know your military capabilities up close, I’m not surprised. Because you were a hero also in your personal life. Even though I would always tell you how talented and successful you were, you never really believed me or understood it.”

“Everywhere you went, you were always fighting to be the best, the most exact,” she added. “And you were also my hero. Who helped me move apartments without me even asking. Who’d pick me up when I was hurt even though I’m not exactly light. Who video chatted me in the middle of the night and listened to all my nonsense even though you were exhausted.”

Shilo’s father, Aryeh, told 103FM radio that his son was part of “an act of heroism on which generations of the Jewish nation can be educated.”

Aryeh said that “despite all the pain, we thank God that this is how [his life ended], with bravery and for the people of Israel and our neighbors in Be’eri and Mefalsim. [Shilo] decided that he wanted to continue for the people of Israel with heroism, and this is what he did.”

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