Sgt. Itamar Cohen, 19: Golani soldier, soccer fan died ‘as a hero’

Sgt. Itamar Cohen, 19, a Golani soldier, from Karmiel, was killed on October 7 battling the Hamas invasion of the Paga IDF outpost near the Gaza border.

About two hours into the battles at the outpost, Itamar ran to retrieve a MATADOR shoulder-mounted weapons system and fired it at a group of terrorists from an outlook post, according to an IDF eulogy, killing a number of them.

As he exited the outlook post, he was shot and killed by the Hamas gunmen, slain alongside his commander, Cpt. Dekel Swissa, Sgt. Lior Azizov and Sgt. Roei Peri.

Ultimately, 14 Golani soldiers were killed battling in and near the Paga outpost that day: Itamar, Dekel, Lior, Roei, Staff Sgt. Tomer Barak, Sgt. Habib Kiean, Staff Sgt. Idan Raz, Sgt. Ido Binenstock, Staff Sgt. Shalev Baranes, Staff Sgt. Yakir Levi, Staff Sgt. Itay Glisko, Staff Sgt. Haim Meir Eden, Staff Sgt. Itamar Ben Yehuda and Staff Sgt. Dolev Amouyal.

Itamar was buried on October 12 in Karmiel. He is survived by his parents, Sima and Eyal and his older brothers, Elior and Ohad.

Born and raised in Karmiel, Itamar was the youngest in the family, raised in a traditional Jewish home and educated in local schools.

He loved soccer, and was a devoted fan of the Beitar Jerusalem team, and also played the sport regularly with friends, according to his loved ones. He was very close to his family, both his parents and siblings as well as his wider extended family, they said.

Itamar dreamed of joining the Golani Brigade and following in his older brother’s footsteps, and intensified his workouts as his enlistment date approached. In December 2022 he enlisted in the IDF and was placed in Golani, completing his training and being stationed with the 13th battalion at the Paga outpost. He was slated to begin a squad commander’s course just a few weeks after his death.

His older brother, Elior, who served in the same battalion as Itamar, recalled frantically searching for him after the Hamas attack, barely unable to accept his fate, and marveling in his final acts of bravery.

“But that was you — you saved everyone, you were just the best,” Elior wrote on a memorial page. “So I got up, I got up because that’s what you would have wanted, I got up and worked, I got up and kept going because I knew that you did everything to defend the country, the battalion, the company, your friends, I kept going in your path, in our path.”

Elior said everything he did “was in your memory, my little brother, a hero of Israel. You’re my brother forever, my little brother, I’ll admire you forever.”

His other brother, Ohad, wrote online: “I want to tell you my little brother, that there is nothing in the world I love like you, and nobody in the world will understand the connection between us, you were my brother, my king.”

Ohad said Itamar “was killed as a hero, you protected your friends and the whole country, you’re a martyr, pure holiness, the most pure boy I know. I miss you so much. I don’t know how I’ll go on without you Itamar, you were a part of me… I am your biggest admirer. I fully believe that we will meet again soon.”

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