Sgt. Amir Eyal, 19: IDF balloonist enjoyed life’s ‘creature comforts’
Killed battling the Hamas attack on the Nahal Oz IDF outpost on October 7
Sgt. Amir Eyal, 19, a surveillance balloon operator in the Border Defense Corps’s 414th unit, from Haifa, was killed on October 7 while battling the Hamas invasion of the IDF Nahal Oz outpost.
Amir – who was stationed on guard duty – was one of five balloon operators on base that morning at the Nahal Oz post, along with Staff Sgt. Daniel Shperber, Sgt. Shimon Lugasi, Staff Sgt. Alroy Ben Shitrit and Staff Sgt. Neta Baram.
The five, who were responsible for operating a large white surveillance balloon that was supposed to collect information from deep inside Gaza, were waiting for a repair crew to arrive and fix the malfunctioning balloon when the Hamas invasion began.
The IDF has said it is investigating whether the balloons were merely malfunctioning or had been sabotaged by Hamas as part of its advance preparations for the onslaught.
“We’re at war,” he texted his family WhatsApp group that morning. “They’re firing at us a ton… it’s going to end badly.”
Amir was wounded in the initial attack and ran for shelter, where he joined up with his other four comrades. The five balloonists fought back against the mass invasion of the outpost by Hamas terrorists, but heavily outnumbered, all five were slain in the battle waged from inside an on-base shelter.
Amir was buried in Haifa on October 13. He is survived by his parents Sharon and Shay, and his siblings Shahar and Shir.
The middle child in the family, Amir was born and raised in Haifa, attending local schools and pursuing a number of sporting loves, according to a eulogy on the Maccabi Haifa website.
He played basketball, tennis and ping pong and was also a devoted fan of the Maccabi Haifa basketball and soccer teams, cheering them on at every opportunity, and also enjoyed catching NBA games. He also had two beloved cats named after pudding cups, Milky and Carlo.
After finishing high school, Amir enlisted in the IDF in August 2022, and after his basic training was stationed as a balloonist at Nahal Oz, a position his loved ones said he enjoyed.
Marom, his commander during basic training, said she could see “that his values came from a good home,” according to a local Haifa news site. “He always had the best manners in every situation, even when he was stressed or things were needed immediately, he always respected those around him, helped everyone and volunteered for everything he could.”
His father, Shay, told the Kan public broadcaster that “Amir was a big homebody, he would come home from the army – [he was] a kid who loved his big duvet and his cats and chocolate chip cookies, he loved all the creature comforts.”
Amir “loved to sit in bed with his cell phone,” he added, and the pair would also regularly relax together on the couch in front of a sporting game and enjoy a hamburger. “He wasn’t looking to be in [an elite unit], but he enjoyed the fact that he was a combat soldier and was on the Gaza border – he loved his job as a balloonist.”