Mariya and Iftah Yahangilov, 61 & 66: Immigrant couple loved travel
Murdered by Hamas terrorists in Ofakim on October 7
Mariya (Maniya) Yahangilov, 61, and her husband Iftah Yahangilov, 66, were murdered by Hamas terrorists next to their home in Ofakim on October 7.
On the morning of the Hamas attack, Mariya and Iftah were home with two of their children and their grandson. Without realizing that terrorists had infiltrated Ofakim, Iftah went out to the stairwell to smoke a cigarette, and he was shot dead by Hamas gunmen. Mariya, hearing the noise, went out after him and was also shot dead. The rest of the family locked the door and barricaded themselves inside and were able to survive the attack.
Iftah was buried on October 12 in Ofakim, and Mariya was buried alongside him four days later, on October 16. They are survived by their three children, Sara, Edgar and Elinor, a grandson and their siblings. Another grandchild was on the way when they were killed.
The couple were both born in Derbent, in southern Russia. According to a eulogy from the Ofakim municipality, Iftah served as a driver in the Soviet army and later worked as a civilian truck driver. Mariya studied accounting and was in charge of payroll at a factory.
The couple wed in 1980, and all three of their children were born in Derbent. They made aliyah to Israel in 1993, settling first in Beersheba and then in Ofakim. Iftah worked at a packaging factory in Netivot, where Mariya also worked for a period. In 2021 she opened a store in Beersheba called Elinor, after their youngest daughter.
The couple loved to travel, including going back to their native Russia. Mariya enjoyed reading Russian literature, and Iftah loved to walk around the city on foot, as well as spend hours at the beach.
The couple’s niece, Tamara Halele Rubinov, said, “My heart is burning in pain… rest in peace. Watch over us from above, now you are in a better and more pure place.” Addressing her aunt Mariya, she added: “I’m begging you to send me strength to continue life without you. From now on I’m alone, you promised to help me, now I know that you will guide me from the pure place where you went.”
Their niece, Dina Avramov, said she could not believe the news, “I want to wake up from this nightmare and pick up the phone and call you and say ‘Manyonina, you won’t believe that I dreamed about you guys,’ and you would respond what you always said, that someone who dies in a dream will have a long life.”
Their son Edgar told the Ofakim municipal site that he and his father “would do everything together, he was like my best friend. Anywhere my Dad would go, he took me with him, not necessarily for me to help him, just for any little thing… He would tell me everything, I felt very free with him. My dad was a role model to me, I would rely on him and connect to him. He was really like my friend, very relaxed and chill, I always felt he was like my peer and my friend.”
Of his mother, Edgar said that Mariya “would do everything to give us what we needed and wanted. My mother would cook delicious and unique Kavkazi food. We would mark every holiday and event with a big celebration, with all the family. All the cousins, grandmother, siblings would come, it would always be happy, with a lot of delicious food and family time.”
