Sgt. Omer Ginzburg, 19: Paratrooper, sports lover who 'spread light'

Killed battling Hamas in southern Gaza on August 11, 2024

Sgt. Omer Ginzburg, 19, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 101st Battalion, from Kiryat Tivon, was killed battling Hamas in south Gaza on August 11, 2024.

Omer was killed in a Hamas-claimed sniper attack in Khan Younis, just a few days after the IDF had launched an operation in the southern Gaza city.

He was buried in Kiryat Tivon on August 13. He is survived by his parents, Maya and Tzachi, and his siblings Yotam, Matan and Lior.

His family donated his organs to those in need, including his corneas. His family said the decision was fully in line with Omer’s approach to life, that he “always thought of others before himself.”

The oldest in his family, Omer was born and raised in Kiryat Tivon in the north. He loved sports from a young age and played soccer and basketball, making many friends on the field.

After finishing high school he enlisted in the IDF, joining the Paratroopers Brigade on August 10, 2023. His loved ones said he was overjoyed to join the brigade and to serve in the military defending his country.

Before even fully completing his training, Omer and his comrades were sent into Gaza in February 2024, and he completed several rounds of fighting before he was killed in August – almost exactly a year to the day after he enlisted.

His loved ones said he dreamed of traveling the world after his release, attending soccer games and even living in the US, where he had family.

“You arrived in this world with a huge, happy, loving and smiling soul,” his mother, Maya, said at his funeral, according to the Ynet news site. “You grew up to be a happy person, strong, loving, a leader. I know that you were in exactly the place you wanted to be, even in your final moment.”

Maya said that she and her husband “were privileged to raise you, to learn from you, to love you and to receive so much love from you. Almost everyone you met on your way got to receive from you that internal light.”

His girlfriend, Mika Tal, told the Kan public broadcaster that “he was a person who was loved so much in a way I can’t describe in words. A loving and funny and sociable person who spread light. He was everything to his friends and he was everything to me.”