First Sgt. Eliran Abergel, 29: Police officer never learnt he has a son

First Sgt. Eliran Abergel, 29, an officer in the coordination of enforcement operations unit, from Hadera, was killed on October 7 battling the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be’eri.

The morning of the attack, Eliran was with his wife at her parents house in Tiberias celebrating the holiday. He immediately headed down south to join his comrades, meeting up with them on the front lines.

Eliran was among those who volunteered to be the first officers entering the hard-hit Kibbutz Be’eri, driving one of two armored jeeps inside in the early afternoon.

The jeep was hit by an RPG shortly after entering the kibbutz, but Eliran and the others were not deterred, getting out and engaging in a firefight until all but one of them was ultimately slain.

Eliran was killed in Be’eri alongside Chief Supt. Avi Amar, Supt. Dan Ganot, Supt. Vadim Blih, Sgt. First Class Mulugeta Gadif, Sgt. Maj. Boris Danilov, Sgt. First Class Dor Mangadi, Sgt. First Class Orel Alon and civilian Ziv Shopen.

He was buried in Netanya on October 10.

He is survived by his wife, Eden, his parents, Doris and Mark, and his sisters, Sivan and Merav. His wife discovered during the shiva mourning period that she was pregnant, and their son, Ari Yehuda, was born in June 2024.

Born and raised in Netanya, Eliran was the youngest in the family, and attended local schools, according to an online eulogy.

After finishing high school, he enlisted in the IDF, serving in the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps along the Lebanon border, later serving as a commander in the 91st Division.

Shortly after his release in 2016 he joined the Israel Police, serving in the Yasam special patrol unit based in Yafo, later in a motorcycle unit and in 2023 he moved to the coordination of enforcement operations unit.

In March 2023, a photo of Eliran lifting Channel 12 police reporter Branu Tegene on his shoulders during a mass anti-government protest in Tel Aviv went viral.

His mother, Doris, told Channel 12 that Eliran “was beloved” as a child. “He was a leader even without wanting to be, just in his own pleasant way.”

Doris said she will most remember “his generosity, his boundless love, his laughter.”

Eliran and Eden met in 2015 and were married on October 6, 2021. They celebrated their second anniversary the day before he was killed, and they had been hoping and longing for a baby while undergoing fertility treatments that had not been successful.

On their anniversary, Eden told Channel 12, “he told me how much he loved me, how happy he was that we were together, side by side, and I told him that I loved him, that I was happy that he was in my life and that I couldn’t ask for a better man than him.”

Eden said her husband “was sensitive. Even though he looked really tough on the outside, he had a huge heart. He had a heart of gold, with a lot of sensitivity to those around him, and mostly to those near him who he loved. Eliran wanted lots of kids.”

Finding out she was pregnant, she said, “was firstly a huge joy, pride, light, but it was also confusion and frustration. It was painful that Eliran didn’t know.”

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