Master Sgt. Eliyahu Harush, 28: Zionist Haredi cop and father of 3

Master Sgt. Eliyahu Michael Harush, 28, a police officer with the Sderot police station, from Ashdod, was killed on October 7 battling Hamas at the station.

Early that morning, when news began to trickle in about a Hamas infiltration of southern Israel, Eliyahu, who was on duty at the Sderot station, got a call about terrorists at the nearby Zikim Beach.

Unaware that there were already terrorists in Sderot, Eliyahu headed out of the station and was killed battling the Hamas gunmen who had gathered outside. He is thought to be the first police officer slain that day.

The Sderot police station became the site of fierce battles throughout the day as Hamas gunmen stormed the building and holed up inside. Ultimately, Israeli forces razed the building to kill those remaining inside and end the standoff.

Eliyahu was buried on October 9 in Ashdod. He is survived by his wife, Hodaya, their three daughters, Lia, Ofri and Noya, his parents, Racheli and Yitzhak, and his six siblings, Efrat, Rivka, Aviya, Elhanan, Hila and Batsheva.

Born and raised in a Haredi household, Eliyahu enlisted in the Israel Police in 2020 through the Shahar program designed as a framework for the ultra-Orthodox to complete their mandatory service. He later signed on to remain in the police force.

In the wake of Eliyahu’s death, his younger brother, Elhanan, decided also to join the police force in his memory.

“There’s no way to describe my brother’s heroism… He went out first, fought, wanted to save as many lives as possible,” Elhanan told the Kan public broadcaster. “I’m continuing in his path… He was really a guide for me, in every way.”

Their father, Yitzhak, told Kan, “We were proud to be the parents of Eliyahu. He was a special kid, sweet, with a lot of heart, a lot of soul. He’s in a good place — we have lost him. His wife has lost him, his sweet girls, he’s left them alone.”

His wife, Hodaya, who also serves in the Israel Police in the Netivot station, told Ynet that “my husband was the first to respond to the terror attack and the first to fall at the Sderot police station… I know that Eliyahu is the first to go out to defend and protect his comrades and the citizens.”

Hodaya said that despite the expected path for people from their community, “Eliyahu saw that he couldn’t study Torah, it was hard for him, but he said: ‘I want to give myself to the country, to the citizens.’ He was a Zionist Haredi, who loved the State of Israel. That’s how we were raised.”

She was in training at the police academy when he was killed, but said she had no doubts about continuing along that path after his death: “It was Eliyahu who sent my resume; Eliyahu knew what I wanted to do, which was to help Haredi women who couldn’t easily approach and speak out because it’s very difficult for crime victims to talk about difficult things… This is Eliyahu’s will: Eliyahu made sure that I joined the Israel Police – and he took care of me well, because they take good care of me – and for me, I’m here out of duty.”

She never forgets, she said, her husband’s bravery, and makes sure to always memorialize him: “Every day I talk about it, whether it’s with people, with my daughters, or even with myself. Every day I remind myself that I was married to a hero.”

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