Master Sgt. Avi Buzaglo, 26: Police officer slain defending hometown

Master Sgt. Avi Buzaglo, 26, a detective at the Rahat police station, from Ofakim, was killed on October 7 while batting the Hamas invasion of his hometown.

Avi was home with his family in Ofakim when the terror onslaught began. When he heard automatic gunfire outside, he didn’t hesitate and grabbed his weapon and police cap and headed out to the main road. His sister told a local radio station, “I asked him to wait a bit and figure out what was going on, and he said to me, ‘Are you serious? You think I’m going to hear that and not go out?’ And he left.”

Outside, he joined up with an off-duty IDF soldier, 2nd Lt. Itamar Hadad, and an armed civilian, Itzhak Balti. The three of them engaged in a fierce firefight with the swarms of invading terrorists, killing many of them, until Avi and Itzhak were killed and Itamar was seriously wounded, but eventually evacuated and survived.

The head of the Rahat station where Avi worked, Commander Jayar Davidov, was also killed on October 7, as were fellow Rahat officers Command Sgt. Maj. Roni Abuharon and Sgt. Maj. Alon Bard.

Avi was buried in Ofakim on October 11. He is survived by his parents, Zehava and Mordechai, his younger siblings Or and Aharon, and his girlfriend, Lital.

Born and raised in a religious family in Ofakim, Avi attended a pre-military academy after finishing high school and then enlisted in the IDF’s Duvdevan commando unit, according to a police eulogy.

Avi was devoted to taking care of his family, always looking out for his younger sister and brother, an Ofakim municipal eulogy reads, and was also an active volunteer in youth groups during high school.

In 2020, he enlisted in the Israel Police and served as a detective in the Rahat station, going on to later lead detective shifts. He was an avid gym-goer, dedicated to extensive workouts, and had enrolled in a criminology degree that he never got to start.

“I could talk about Avi for hours, I would always brag about him to my friends,” his little sister, Or, told a local radio station. “He was my big brother, nothing prepares you at age 25 to lose a brother you’ve lived with for so many years.”

Or said Avi “was a role model. I admired him… he was our support system, always had our back. When people came to pay condolence calls they would say, ‘You can be comforted that he was a hero.’ But we already knew that. We knew who Avi was. During his lifetime he was also a hero. He was always ready, always on alert. When we’d go out to restaurants he would always insist on sitting facing outward, he’d never face inward… If I was ever afraid or worried to go anywhere, he’d say, ‘You’re with me.'”

Avi’s younger brother, Aharon, wrote on an Instagram memorial page that Avi “always had a great deal of energy and strength to help others. That was always burning in his heart. Even at his friends’ weddings, he would work out so he could lift them on his shoulders.”

Aharon said his older brother “instilled in me a love of the land, of the people of Israel, and a motivation to enlist in a combat unit and give back as much as possible… He was the support system of the home. At work and everywhere he would connect to people in minutes. He was loved by all those around him.”

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