Staff Sgt. Omer Benjo, 20: Observation soldier was ‘full of grace’
Killed by a rocket fired at an IDF base in Safed on February 14, 2024
Staff Sgt. Omer Sarah Benjo, 20, an observation soldier with the 91st Division’s 869th Combat Intelligence Collection unit, from Ge’a, was killed on February 14, 2024, by a rocket fired from Lebanon at an army base in the north.
A barrage of at least 11 rockets was fired from Lebanon that morning, killing Omer and wounding eight others at the Northern Command headquarters base and surrounding areas in the northern city of Safed. Omer and several other soldiers were running to a bomb shelter when the rocket struck the base, the IDF said.
Omer was slated to complete her mandatory army service a month after she was killed, although her family said she had been considering staying on in light of the ongoing war. Her high school guidance counselor said that Omer wanted to travel once she completed her service and planned to study civil engineering.
She is survived by her parents, Hadas and Shimon, and her siblings Stav and Bar. She was buried in Ge’a on February 14. Omer was family friends with Sgt. Yael Leibushor, who grew up in the same small town and was killed on October 7.
Naama Yosefovitz, who served with Omer on the same base, told Ma’ariv that the pair “grew closer and closer during the war, she was a girl who was so happy and full of grace, she always wanted the best for everyone and always ensured things would be good. On multiple occasions she helped me put things into perspective… she captured a very big piece of my heart forever.”
Her cousin, Maya, wrote online to “my beautiful Omriki, my other half, my cousin who was like a sister.”
“I wish the whole world would get to know you and what a wonderful person you were and how much you had to give to the world,” she continued. “A girl who loved life and just wanted to go out and show the world who she really was and what she was capable of. You are a ray of light who was born with the goal of spreading light and joy to everyone around you.”
Omer’s younger sister, Bar, wrote on Instagram that she missed “every moment of ours together — our arguments, the restaurants we would go to, shopping we would do together.” Bar wrote that Omer “had so many plans, and you never got to do any of them. My Omer, the thing that was most important to me in the world, and they just took you from me in a moment. I miss you endlessly.”
