Petty Officer 2nd Class Kamay Achiel, 18: Sailor, dancer loved the sea

Petty Officer Second Class Kamay Achiel, 18, a sailor in the Navy’s 914th Patrol Squadron’s Snapir unit, from Rosh Haayin, was killed on October 14, 2023, in an accidental explosion.

Kamay was stationed on a ship near the northern border with Lebanon. On that Saturday – a week after the start of the war – the ship came under attack from an underwater terror threat, according to an IDF obituary.

Kamay was ordered to throw grenades into the sea, but due to a technical malfunction one of them exploded in her hand. She took the brunt of the explosion and was killed, while seven other soldiers were wounded. The shipment of grenades was later found to be faulty and removed from operations.

She was buried in Petah Tikva on October 16. She is survived by her parents, Karin and Nir, and her two sisters Mika and Yaheli.

Kamay was born and raised in Petah Tikva, the oldest in her family. She attended local schools and excelled in her studies, her family said.

She always loved dance, and from age 5 until high school she took lessons at a studio and took part in competitions and performances around the country. At age 15, her family moved to Rosh Ha’ayin where she attended high school, focusing her studies on medicine.

Kamay volunteered with children with special needs, and her family found out after she died that she would also visit a Holocaust survivor once a week and help with her grocery shopping.

Toward the end of high school, Kamay met Nitay and they became a couple, both pursuing combat roles in the IDF and finding time to still see each other – the last on October 6, 2023.

She loved the sea, including surfing and spending time on the shore, and her family was not surprised when she expressed a desire to join the Israeli Navy.

Kamay enlisted in February 2023, and ultimately joined the Snapir unit, which deals with force protection and harbor security. She was stationed on a defender-class boat.

On October 11, 2023, four days after the Hamas attack and three days before she was killed, Kamay wrote a letter on her phone in case anything happened to her, which her family found after her death: “I am here on the Lebanon border, doing what is incumbent upon me – protecting my country.”

“It is important to me that you know that I couldn’t be happier to have chosen to do what I do,” she added. “I am happy to wake up every day and serve my country in the Snapir unit.”

Kamay’s boyfriend, Nitay, told Channel 12 news that he “worked hard to get her to be my girlfriend – I got a lot of rejections before” she said yes.

“She’s the most interesting woman I’ve ever met, the most special woman I’ve ever know, the most beautiful woman,” he added. “I would always talk to her about the future – what kind of home we would have. I saw very far ahead… it was forever.”

Nir, Kamay’s father, told the Kan public broadcaster that “the sea was our special place, we would sit here a lot, talk about everything, she’d tell me everything, seek advice.”

“It’s no coincidence that she joined the Navy,” he added. “The sea was an inseparable part of her… it’s so hard for me. I feel her with me always, she’s always with me.”

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