Sgt. Tamir Barak, 19, a Combat Engineering Corps soldier from Kibbutz Nir Eliyahu, was killed by Hamas on October 22 while conducting an operation to search for bodies just over the Gaza border.
He was killed when Hamas fired an anti-tank guided missile at an Israeli tank and engineering vehicle.
Barak is survived by his parents, Almog and Golan, his sister Sagi and brother Yogev. He was buried on October 23 in Nir Eliyahu.
Barak’s uncle, Cpl. Benny Barak, was killed while fighting in the Golan Heights in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. After his death, his parents decided to have another child, and named him Golan — Tamir’s father.
Tamir’s uncle, Dudi, wrote on Facebook: “They say that lightining [Barak in Hebrew] doesn’t strike twice in the same place. It seems that’s a mistake. It hit us — and oh how it hit us. Tamir, my nephew, a charming boy with an eternal smile. An enormous heartbreak.”
His stepmother, Dafi Barazani, wrote that his “smile and his joy for life accompanied him until the horrible moment he was killed. So young, and so beautiful.”
A fellow member of Kibbutz Nir Eliyahu, Keren Weinberg, said she could not comprehend that Barak was killed after “just this morning you posted a video to TikTok with your comrade — with a huge smile and laughing.” Now, she wrote, “the nightmare has come true.”
Read more Those We Have Lost stories here.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this