Those we have lost

Sgt. Ariel Ohana, 19: Basketball-loving paratrooper was ‘a true hero’

Killed battling the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 8, 2023

Sgt. Ariel Ohana (IDF)
Sgt. Ariel Ohana (IDF)

Sgt. Ariel Ohana, 19, a soldier in the Paratroopers Brigade, from Revadim, was killed on October 8, 2023, battling Hamas in Kibbutz Be’eri.

At the start of the attack that Saturday morning, Ariel was stationed at his base in Nebi Musa in the Judean Desert, according to an IDF eulogy. He and his comrades were flown via helicopter to the area of Kibbutz Alumim to join the fighting.

After disembarking they marched toward Kibbutz Be’eri to join the battle against the Hamas invaders. For more than 30 hours, Ariel helped clear the kibbutz of terrorists and rescue besieged residents. On Sunday afternoon, he and his team entered the home of Maayan and Yuval Bar, who were murdered in the attack, to ensure there were no threats.

Ariel’s commander entered first and was shot and wounded, and when Ariel charged in afterward he was shot dead.

He was buried on October 11 in Revadim. He is survived by his parents, Liat and Yaniv, and his siblings Yoav, Gili and Shaked.

Born in Moshav Talmei Yehiel in central Israel, the second-oldest in the family, Ariel moved to Kibbutz Revadim in southern Israel as a baby.

There he grew up playing out in nature, tumbling through the scrap yard and spending time with the animals, his loved ones said, while also enjoying puzzles and building games. He attended elementary and high school in nearby Kibbutz Kfar Menachem.

Ariel loved playing both basketball and soccer and also dabbled in Capoeira, skiing, bike riding, ping pong, tennis and horseback riding, and was a participant and later leader in local youth groups. He also enjoyed ceramics and chess and loved to experiment in the kitchen.

He was an “entrepreneur in spirit,” his family said, working for years in the kibbutz shop, the dairy, restaurants and even opening a “kiosk” in his high school dorm room to sell ice cream and snacks to his friends.

In August 2022, he enlisted in the IDF and served in the Paratroopers Brigade, training as a “Negevist” machine gun operator.

“Ariel was born with a smile and closed his eyes in battle with a smile,” his father, Yaniv, said during a ceremony renaming a youth basketball team in his honor. “A talented, smiling and funny boy, who played basketball from 4th through 12th grades… half of his time he spent on these courts.”

Yaniv said on that dark Saturday, Ariel “fought for 30 hours, rescued many civilians, took out terrorists… our son entered a holocaust that took place within our country, and he is a true hero.”

Ariel’s younger sister, Gili, wrote on an Instagram memorial page that he was a “role model for me in everything: his smile, his optimism, in short everything an older brother could impart to his younger sister.”

Gili wrote that the pair would always poke fun at each other, and “Ariel was one of the people who understood me the most… Ariel will always remain my guardian angel!”

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