Sgt. 1st Class Yakir Tatelbaum, 21: US-Israeli soldier 'fell with pride'

Killed while fighting Hamas in northern Gaza on June 28, 2024

Sgt. First Class (res.) Yakir Shmuel Tatelbaum, 21, of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion, from Ma’ale Adumim, was killed while fighting Hamas in northern Gaza on June 28, 2024.

Yakir was called up to reserve duty in April 2024, immediately after completing his mandatory military service, and was killed while battling Hamas in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, in the northern Strip.

He was buried on June 30, 2024 – on what would have been his 22nd birthday – on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents, Yehuda and Miriam (Marcy), and his siblings, Meir and Techelet.

Born in Michigan, the middle child, Yakir made aliya with his family in 2007, when he was 5 years old, settling in the West Bank city of Ma’aleh Adumim, according to an online eulogy.

After graduating high school, Yakir did a year at the Ein Prat pre-army academy in Kibbutz Sufa, near the Gaza border, before enlisting in the IDF in August 2021 and joining the Armored Corps.

According to his loved ones, Yakir had a number of dreams, including volunteering in agriculture in the south. He also wanted to donate a kidney, and already at age 16 he signed an organ donor card. After his death, his corneas and other body parts were donated to those in need.

Two weeks before he was killed, Yakir mourned the loss of his former teacher, Warrant Officer (res.) Elon Weiss, who was also slain while fighting in northern Gaza.

“Yakir died knowing that he was doing something… perfect and safe, without much fear,” his brother, Meir, told Ynet. “He believed in the goal, in victory, in the fight, in returning the captives and in absolute victory. This is what he lived for and probably for that he was also killed. He said he wanted to travel after the war, restore the south, donate a kidney. That’s what he wanted. To donate organs — that’s his wish.”

“Yakir was one-of-a-kind,” his mother Marcy wrote online. “He was an amazing son, so sweet, never raised his voice, deeply respectful of all people and had hundreds of close friends. He was kind, gentle, driven, and deeply dedicated to fighting evil and protecting our homeland.”

She said that since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, “Yakir was mostly in Gaza involved in serious and important battles and missions, including the freeing of the 4 hostages in the beginning of June. He was a true hero who fell with pride.”