Citing IDF failures and beyond, family of soldier killed in Lebanon leaves Israel: ‘We can’t find solace here’

The family of Sgt. Gur Kehati, 20, who was killed in November 2024 during an unauthorized visit by a civilian researcher to southern Lebanon, has decided to leave Israel over the negligence exposed in the ordeal, relatives have told the Haaretz daily.

The family has reportedly been furious at the army’s initial hesitance to disclose the full troubling details of the incident, the subsequent slow pace of its investigation, and the lack of meaningful consequence for those involved.

On November 20, 2024, Col. (res.) Yoav Yarom — who served as chief of staff of the Golani Brigade in the reserves — allowed researcher Ze’ev Erlich, 71, to enter the western sector of southern Lebanon, in IDF uniform, to examine an archaeological site without the necessary approvals.

The visit took place at the height of an Israeli ground offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, a week before a ceasefire between Israel and the terror group brought a temporary halt to more than a year of hostilities.

Yarom and Erlich were joined by a team of soldiers as they entered a medieval fortress in the southern Lebanese village of Shamaa, revered by Christians and Shiite Muslims as the 1st-century burial place of Saint Peter.

Believing the area had been cleared of threats, Yarom led Erlich and accompanying troops, including Kehati, to the site, where two Hezbollah operatives ambushed the forces, killing Erlich and Kehati. An officer was seriously wounded, and Yarom himself was moderately wounded, before the gunmen were killed.

Yarom was dismissed from the army over the incident, but only months after he voluntarily stepped down.

The family describes the series of failures that led to Gur’s death and the treatment it got from the IDF as “a horror movie.”

Gur’s mother, Maayan, says that the many soldiers killed in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught and the following war are “nobody’s children,” adding: “How can I stay in this country? My children are what my life is about. Who is speaking up for these children we raised to go out, spend a year volunteering and enlist?”

She says that in a meeting in July with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the latter told her: “I hear you’re leaving the country.” She answered: “We’re not. The country has given up on us.”

The family has decided to move to Greece’s Crete.

Gur’s father, Ron, says: “We can’t find solace here, we can’t recover here. To recover, you also need a community, an embrace, support and a vision of a future. And there isn’t one.”

“I don’t have a group I belong to anymore,” says Maayan. “I can’t send the children to a school controlled by this Education Ministry. When I go shopping, I see the people of Israel, and Gur’s blood is smeared across all their faces.”

She is disappointed even by those who campaigned on her and others’ behalf.

“Nobody takes action. Another rally at Habima [Square], another demonstration. Nobody shuts the country down. And I don’t mean over Gur. Gur is my pain. They didn’t shut the country down over the lookout soldiers who were abandoned. We’re being swallowed up, just as Gur was swallowed up.”