An Israeli man fell to his death on Saturday during a family hike in Slovenia after rushing to help his 7-year-old son who had fallen into a river, his family says.
Gil Hilel, 44, from Kibbutz Yizre’el, saw the boy fall into the water and get hit by rocks during a hike in a canyon, and while rushing to help, lost his grip and fell from a height, according to a Facebook post by his brother Ben Alon Hurvitz.
The kid has been hospitalized with a broken leg, Hurvitz says.
He says Hilel was “an athletic, handsome, funny, serious and smart guy,” adding that he “was always willing to physically jump in and save others from any distress” and sometimes “was the first to charge ahead, even before others understood there was a problem.”
Gil’s widow, Rotem Hilel, posts what she says was their final photo together, saying she is not yet ready to speak of him in past tense: “You are my home. What home am I supposed to come back to? I cannot imagine my life without you. For 20 years, you were my anchor.”
The couple has three children.
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
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