Those we have lost

Sgt. Boaz Yoggev, 19: One of 10 siblings who had ‘hands of gold’

Killed battling the Hamas invasion of the Nahal Oz IDF outpost on Oct. 7

Sgt. Boaz Menashe Yoggev (IDF)
Sgt. Boaz Menashe Yoggev (IDF)

Sgt. Boaz Menashe Yoggev, 19, a technician in the Gaza Division, from Talmon, was killed on October 7 battling the Hamas invasion of the Nahal Oz IDF outpost.

Boaz, who had enlisted in the IDF in August 2022, was placed in the Kometz Unit, which is responsible for maintaining and repairing the Gaza border fence. The morning of the attack, Boaz ran to a bomb shelter on base when the sirens first sounded without any weapons or protective gear, according to a memorial site.

When wounded soldiers joined him in the shelter, Boaz understood that terrorists had infiltrated, and decided to run back to his room and grabbed his weapon and an extra magazine and then ran back to the shelter and positioned himself at one of the entrances. There he stood, battling against Hamas for several hours as they threw grenades and fired volleys of bullets until he was shot in the head and killed.

He was slain alongside Golani soldiers Staff Sgt. Nehoray Amitay, Staff Sgt. Barak Ben David and Staff Sgt. Sahar Meidani, according to his family.

Only one other soldier in the Kometz Unit, Liron Kullock, was on base that weekend. Liron told the Kan public broadcaster that amid all the chaos, Boaz called her to find out where she was, urging her to seek shelter and staying with her on the phone until she did. Liron was wounded but ultimately rescued alive from the base.

“[Boaz] realized there were terrorists and ran to his room, took his weapon and stood at one of the entrances to the shelter, without a helmet or bulletproof vest,” Liron told Kan. “Boaz fought because that’s who he was, he wouldn’t have fled. Even though we didn’t have combat training and we’d never prepared for anything like this, he knew that this is what he had to do.”

Liron said despite them coming from vastly different backgrounds, “we were still very close friends. And the fact that I am here alive with my family is because of him. He was a wonderful friend because it didn’t matter that we were different, we were just good friends. Maybe it’s a little naive to think [such a connection] could happen in civilian life outside of the army, but if only we could all look at the person in front of us, who is so different from us, and think ‘maybe we can be friends.'”

Boaz was buried on October 12 in the West Bank settlement of Dolev. He is survived by his parents, Atara and Gil, and his nine siblings, Shahar, Erel, Tzofnat, Yehuda, Noa, Maayan, Rachel, Talia and Benzion.

Born in Elazar in the West Bank, the third out of 10 siblings and the oldest boy, Boaz’s family moved when he was 4 years old to Susya in the South Hebron Hills, and later to the settlement of Neria in the Talmon bloc. During his years in yeshiva high school he explored a love of agriculture, mechanics and carpentry, working with his hands and building chairs and planters at home.

In a eulogy, his father Gil described him as a “beloved boy. Simply a kid who was loved. Truly, everyone loved him.”

Boaz “had hands of gold. Everything you touched was with excellence. You knew how to make rockers and chairs out of wood. To organize things at home with no problem. To take care of the car. You always got up when anyone needed help.”

His son, he said, “had a unique light inside. Just a smiling and loved kid. Oy, Boaz. We as a family simply loved you. I have nothing else to say. True love from all the heart. We admired you. From the start you were a holy and pure soul, who got to come down to earth, apparently for just a short time. We didn’t appreciate you enough.”

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