‘You were a ray of sunlight’: Egypt border shooting victim Lia Ben Nun laid to rest

About 1,000 people attend the Rishon Lezion funeral of Sgt. Lia Ben Nun, including family, friends, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Mayor Raz Kinstlich and IDF Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano.

Sgt. Lia Ben Nun, 19, a combat soldier in the Bardelas Battalion, who was shot dead on the Egyptian border on June 3, 2023 (IDF Spokesman)

As Ben Nun’s comrades carry her coffin during the procession, her grandmother shouts out: “I want you to come back, my granddaughter. We want answers.”

The circumstances of Ben Nun’s death yesterday along with two comrades near the Egypt border are murky. Israel says it was a planned-out shooting attack, while Egypt says a soldier crossed the border to pursue drug smugglers.

Ben Nun’s sister Ofir and parents Dudu and Michal quietly follow the Israel flag-draped coffin.

Ofir says: “Thank you, Lia, for giving me the pleasure of being your sister for 19 years. My little sister, I love you and already miss you. You were a ray of sunlight, you were my joy, I don’t know what I’ll do now.”

Family and friends attend the funeral of Sgt. Lia Ben Nun who was killed on the Egyptian border a day earlier, at the military cemetery in Rishon Lezion, June 4, 2023. (Flash90)