Maj. Yair Zloof, 32: IDF physician who ‘lit up the world’

Maj. Yair Zloof, 32, commander of the 401st Armored Brigade’s surgical company, from Tel Mond, was killed on October 10, 2023, near the Gaza border.

On October 7, Yair was called to the front lines as part of his role as a military doctor, and set off to take part in the operations near the border. According to an IDF obituary, Yair was killed three days later during preparations for the ground invasion of Gaza.

He was buried on October 13 in Tel Mond. He is survived by his wife, Maya, his parents, Ahuva and Dov, and his sister, Adi.

Yair was born and raised in Yehud in central Israel, attending local schools. Already as a young child he was interested in table tennis, first in an afterschool club and later competitively, even winning a national title at age 12.

After graduating high school, Yair enlisted in the IDF in 2009 and joined the Intelligence Corps, but a few months later he decided to follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and instead take part in the Atuda program to complete his medical studies first and then serve as an IDF doctor.

He attended the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, completing his first year of internship at the Hadassah Medical Center Mount Scopus and later doing his residency in pediatrics at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva. He also published a number of scientific studies, including several on obesity in adolescents in Israel.

At the same time, Yair completed an IDF officers’ course and served as a combat doctor with the Nahal Brigade’s reconnaissance unit. He initiated a number of projects designed to improve soldiers’ health, his loved ones said, including improving their nutrition, workshops to quit smoking and dental care.

He met his wife, Maya, while they were both studying medicine, and after they finished their degrees they decided to settle in Tel Mond near Netanya.

In a 2021 interview with the Ynet news site, Yair spoke about following the same path as his father and grandfather, both military doctors, saying that “we learn quite a lot from each other… it’s nice to have someone to share experiences with and also to seek advice from and to understand better.”

In a memorial video produced by the Israeli Medical Association, his mother, Ahuva, said that “Yair was a huge gift for us – he came into the world 10 years after his sister, I waited for him so long and when he arrived I was so happy.”

“He was so full of love and sensitivity,” she added, recalling his warm embraces and his close connection to his grandparents.

His wife, Maya, said in the video that “Yair lit up the world. I think his name [which means light] was the most accurate name you could choose to describe him.”

“He saw everyone, from the worker in the cafeteria at the university who would clean the tables, who had special needs, Yair would sit with him for coffee every day – he saw everybody and he sought to only do good,” Maya added. In everything he did, she said, “he gave 150%.”

“We would do everything together in our free time, we played tennis… we’d travel a lot around the world and the country… or just sit on the couch and watch a TV show together,” she said.

“He was always the person I would seek advice from on any question. We realized ourselves together – each of us apart and together we were 1,000 times stronger.”

Read more Those We Have Lost stories here.