Sgt. Shir Biton, 19: Volunteer medic dreamed of becoming a doctor

Sgt. Shir Biton, 19, a medic in the Gaza Division from Ashdod, was killed battling Hamas terrorists at the Nahal Oz outpost on October 7.

When rocket sirens started blaring early that Saturday morning, Shir ran for the shelter, and updated her parents that terrorists were infiltrating the base.

“I don’t really know what’s going on here, soon we’ll figure it out, but I love you and I’ll update you when everything is OK,” she told them in a voice note from her friend’s phone.

Shir was considered missing for two days before her parents were informed that her body had been found. They later found out that she had run from the shelter to her room on base, encountering and killing a terrorist along the way, and then was killed near her room by another terrorist who had infiltrated the outpost.

She is survived by her parents, Ori and Asaf, and her siblings Liad and Aviya. She was buried in Ashdod on October 12.

A dedicated volunteer with the Magen David Adom emergency service, her family said that she dreamed of studying to become a doctor after she completed her mandatory army service. Shir’s parents chose to memorialize her by purchasing an MDA ambulance in her honor.

“Shir was a MDA volunteer for five years, even before she was a paramedic in the army, she contributed so much at MDA, even on weekends when she would come home [from the army] she would first set a MDA shift, to save lives, and only afterward prioritize anything else,” her mother, Ori told Army Radio.

“We chose to commemorate her and continue her path and her spirit by buying an ambulance which will continue to save lives, and will continue to be for others, and to try just a little bit to continue what she dreamed of,” Ori added.

Ori told a local Ashdod news site that Shir was very happy with the path of her army service: “In all the photos of her you can see a really joyous girl, who is happy and enjoying herself, she was very happy.”

“Shir was a girl of home and family, always helpful, supportive, a gentle girl, very pleasant and never angry,” Ori added. “She was very sociable, she had many circles of friends, from school, the army, the gym, and of course MDA.”

Her brother Liad told the news site that his sister “wanted to dedicate her life to helping and caring for others, that was her love.” He noted that she also loved to work out at the gym as well as to dance, which she regularly studied.

“She had a lot of dualities,” Liad said. “On the one hand she was very smart and gentle, and on the other hand she was very social, accepted, and no small fighter.”

Her father Asaf told the news site that Shir was committed to becoming a doctor despite the challenging path of doing so in Israel.

“We talked about it a lot, that being a doctor in Israel is not the rosiest future, but she was single-minded about it and directed everything toward it — her endless devotion to her studies with high grades and successful matriculation exams,” he said.

Shir “was very quiet, modest and she had very high expectations from herself,” her father added. “That was evident in every area of life she applied herself to: She was no sucker, she knew to stand up for herself, and never gave up.”

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