Those We Have Lost

Staff Sgt. Daniel Rashed, 19: Druze soldier who ‘fought like a lion’

Killed October 7 when Hamas terrorists overran the Nahal Oz IDF outpost

Staff Sgt. Daniel Rashed who was killed at Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023. (IDF)
Staff Sgt. Daniel Rashed who was killed at Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023. (IDF)

Staff Sgt. Daniel Rashed, 19, a Golani soldier from Shfaram, was killed October 7 when Hamas terrorists overran the Nahal Oz IDF outpost.

He is survived by his parents, Suheir and Moaad, and his three younger siblings, brothers Anas and Andre and sister Jouri. He was buried on October 15 in Shfaram.

Ahlam Saed, his aunt, wrote on Facebook in tribute to “my nephew, a hero of Israel, you are engraved in my heart and soul, we will remember you forever.”

“A hero of Israel, who fell on the Nahal Oz base on 7-10-23 after he stayed on the base even though he had permission to go home,” she wrote. “A child of 19 who fought like a lion against terrorists, the Druze soldier who was killed on that black Saturday… A hero of the nation and the Druze community, a hero of Shfaram, a hero to mom and dad, my hero. I love you until my last breath.”

His former teacher, Yousef Ola Misheal, described him as “a shy young man with a sweet disposition… I share in my country’s grief for this decent, polite young man and his family.”

His cousin, Hayl Azi, told a local radio station that it was hard to speak about Daniel in the past tense.

“He was an introvert, smiley, brave,” he said, noting that after he finished high school he “insisted on enlisting in Golani, he wanted to be there, he wanted to realize the potential inside him.”

Hayl noted that the Wednesday before October 7, Daniel got a break from the army to attend his aunt’s wedding, and his father wanted to get him to stay an extra day “and he refused, he said I need to get back to my company… that’s the spirit of the people there. That’s the spirit of Golani.”

He said that the family does not have a lot of details about his death, but “we know that he fought, that he fought — they told us — as a hero. Which doesn’t surprise me. He comes from a family of heroes… he grew up in a family of brave people, people who love the State of Israel, and see themselves as an integral part of the state.”

Read more Those We Have Lost stories here.

Most Popular
read more: