Ido Hubara, 36: Died in his father's arms, defending kibbutz

A native of Kibbutz Sufa, the father of three took his gun and joined the civil defense unit on October 7

Ido Hubara, 36, was killed battling Hamas terrorists attempting to invade his home of Kibbutz Sufa on October 7.

As a member of the kibbutz’s local security team, Hubara was posthumously recognized as a fallen soldier with the rank of major in the reserves. He is survived by his wife, Noa, their three children, Guy and twins Goni and Gal, as well as his parents, Hadas and Zohar and his sisters Na’ama and Inbar.

He was buried on October 13 in Nahshon.

His father, Zohar, a medic and ambulance driver on the kibbutz, treated Ido for his severe injuries but was unable to save him.

Ido’s wife, Noa, told the Kan public broadcaster that when the Hamas attack on the kibbutz started her husband took his gun and went out to join the rest of the small defensive team.

Later, Zohar received an alert that Ido had been shot.

Like the rest of the kibbutz residents, Zohar had locked himself in a shelter room during the attack, but immediately left, grabbing his medic’s equipment as he went.

Zohar, a medic with Magen David Adom for 35 years, rushed to the scene and found his son with a severe head injury, but still alive. Zohar tried to bring the kibbutz ambulance to evacuate Ido to a medical center but terrorists had shot the tires to prevent it from being used.

Nonetheless, he was able to bring Ido out of the area of an ongoing firefight and then did his best to save him.

“I tried to do everything I could, everything that I know to save him,” Zohar told Kan.

Zohar was forced to alert the Magen David Adom dispatch center of the death of his own son.

For six hours, he sat by the body of Ido, holding his son’s hand, he told Kan.

“I wanted to stay with him, a few more minutes,” Zohar recalled.

Noa, unaware of the situation, continued sending Ido text messages asking him to send some sign that he was well.

The rest of Ido’s family had taken refuge together in a shelter at one of the kibbutz homes. It fell to Zohar to tell them that Ido had been killed.

When he entered the home, grandson Guy, aged 4, asked him “Why have you come back and our father hasn’t?”

Ido and Noa also have twin girls Gal and Goni aged 3.

Nearly six weeks after the attack, Noa told Kan that the twins are still asking “When is Abba coming back?”

“He was an amazing father, and they feel that he is missing,” she said. “It breaks my heart each time I explain to them again that his absence will continue.”