Clockwise from top left: IDF soldiers Staff Sgt. Yoav Raver, Staff Sgt. Uri Yhonatan Cohen, Sgt. First Class Tom Rotstein, and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Chen Gross, who were killed in Gaza on June 6, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The funerals of four soldiers killed in Friday’s building explosion in the southern Gaza Strip are held throughout the country.
Staff Sgt. Yoav Raver, one of four soldiers, is buried at the Sde Warburg Cemetery.
In his eulogy, Lior Raver, Yoav’s father, says his son taught him “humility, love, brotherhood, and friendship.”
“I asked you if you weren’t afraid, you said you were afraid, but that you were professional. You set out with your head held high on a noble mission — to bring information about the hostages or to bring them back themselves,” he says.
Soldiers carry the flag-draped coffin of IDF Staff Sgt. Yoav Raver, who was killed in action in the Gaza Strip, during his funeral at the Sde Warburg cemetery in central Israel, on June 8, 2025. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
Separately, hundreds of people join a funeral procession for Staff Sgt. Uri Yhonatan Cohen, who is buried in Neve Yarak Cemetery.
The funerals of Sgt. First Class Tom Rotstein and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Chen Gross are held by loved ones in private.
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From the Liveblog of
Sunday, June 8, 2025
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