Staff Sgt. Roy Bareket, 20: ‘Redhead with dimples’ slain in firefight

Staff Sgt. Roy Bareket, 20, a squad commander in the Golani Brigade, from Tel Aviv, was killed on October 7 battling the Hamas invasion of the Nahal Oz IDF base.

According to his family, Roy was on duty that Saturday morning, and with the start of the attack, he and nine other combat soldiers got in an armored personnel carrier and headed toward the Gaza border, battling with invading terrorists and suffering a hit from an RPG. The soldiers decided to head toward the Nahal Oz base to help battle the Hamas invasion there, along the way engaging in intense battles with cells of terrorists.

At the base, the soldiers drove the APC inside, running over terrorists in their wake but quickly realizing how outnumbered they were against the Hamas invasion, and that the heavily damaged APC was no match. Seven of them got out to battle the terrorists face-to-face near the gate of the IDF base, and most were shot dead by gunfire.

Roy was killed in the battle along with his commander, Maj. Shilo Har-Even, Staff Sgt. Dvir Zakai, Staff Sgt. Dor Yarhi, Staff Sgt. Yishay Fitusi and Staff Sgt. Yaad Ben Yaakov.

Roy was buried on October 12 in Tel Aviv. He is survived by his parents, Liat and Yaron, and his siblings Mika and Ori.

Writing in a eulogy on the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team website, his parents described him as a “redhead with dimples who was full of energy, who loved sports from a young age and inherited from home a love of Maccabi Tel Aviv,” purchasing season tickets and trying to make it to every game, even while in the army.

He played both soccer and basketball in his youth, they said, and was also an active participant and later counselor in his local scout troop, who loved hanging out at the beach and surfing.

Roy’s father Yaron, told Israel Hayom that since his son was killed, he travels far and wide “telling the story of Roy’s heroic battle.”

“This is my mission,” he said. “I want people to know about the sacrifice and the bravery of my son and the commanders and soldiers who were with him. This generation, who we all thought were living for themselves, came and sacrificed everything and fought with supreme bravery… it needs to be told everywhere it can be.”

His mother, Liat, told Israel Hayom that Roy “was always charismatic, a boy who loved life, who got alone with everyone, but [since he was killed] we’ve heard from people things we didn’t know, stories about Roy, and it’s incredible how many sides there were to this kid.”

Liat said that the family “knew our Roy, but it turns out everyone who met him had their own Roy… Roy knew how to get along with everyone and be loved by all. The redheaded kid from Tzhala [an upscale neighborhood of north Tel Aviv], whose closest friends included the platoon commander from [the West Bank settlement of] Kiryat Arba, friends from all different backgrounds, different lives, Roy simply found himself with everyone — it was an amazing quality.”

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