Dan Asulin, 38: Local security chief’s son was born after his death
Killed battling Hamas terrorists next to Mivtahim on October 7
Dan Asulin, 38, from the Mivtahim moshav near Gaza, was killed battling Hamas terrorists on October 7.
As head of the town’s local security team, Asulin was recognized posthumously as a fallen soldier with the rank of master sergeant in the reserves.
He was slain alongside Tal Maman and other members of the team as they fought to repel the invasion at the entrance to the town, while the terrorists fired and threw grenades at the small and outmanned local security crew.
His funeral was held on October 15 in Beersheba, and he was buried in the cemetery in Tzohar.
He is survived by his wife, Hen, his daughter, Erin, and a son, Eliya, who was born after his death, as well as his parents, Glila and Yehuda, and sisters Efrat and Lital. His father, Yehuda, was a captive soldier during the 1973 Yom Kippur War who was later released.
Dan worked in security, was known for his excellent barbecue skills and loved soccer, in particular his beloved team Real Madrid, his friends said.
His nephew, Niv Asis, told Radio Darom that “Dan was a person with a huge heart and endless generosity to everyone. I’m saying this not because I’m his nephew, he was just a person who thought of other people first and then himself — he endangered himself so that others wouldn’t be in danger.”
Two months after Dan was killed, his sister, Efrat Asulin, wrote on Facebook about her longing and grief over her brother.
“Longing. Only deep and endless longing. To see you again, to smell your smell, to look into your sparkling eyes, to stroke your head, to hug, to kiss, to touch,” she wrote.
“As time passes, as memories fade, the longing only grows,” Efrat continued. “Longing for your presence, longing for calm, longing for the days before everything, for one moment without longing. My unique, beloved little brother, you will forever be kept in my heart, you are in my thoughts 24/7.”
In December, more than two months after he was killed, his son Eliya was born.
“Dan was really looking forward to the birth,” his wife Hen told Ynet. “When everything happened I was in my seventh month. He wanted a surprise, he didn’t want to know if it was a boy or girl. To our great sadness, he never found out.”
Hen said that Dan intended to be at the birth “just as he was the first time. He wanted a boy because we already have a girl. Giving birth brought me back to the first time when he was by my side… I just hoped that he was with me, even if not physically.”
She said that if things in Mivtahim are safe and secure and peaceful, “I’ll go back to the moshav. It’s what Dan would have wanted. He didn’t give up on the moshav, even in battle. He jumped first to defend the community.”
