Staff Sgt. Yakir Levi, 21: Golani soldier was one of 10 siblings

Staff Sgt. Yakir Levi, 21, a soldier in the Golani Brigade, from Moreshet, was killed battling the Hamas invasion of the Paga IDF outpost on October 7.

The small IDF post was beset by dozens of Hamas terrorists that day, and Yakir and his comrades set up position inside the on-base bomb shelter where they fought for hours to defend the camp.

Around 11 a.m., the Hamas gunmen set the building on fire to force the soldiers out into the open. Yakir and three of his comrades — Staff Sgt. Idan Raz, Staff Sgt. Shalev Baranes and Staff Sgt. Itay Glisko — decided to go out to fight them face to face. All four were slain in the battle.

Overall, 13 of the 26 soldiers stationed at the outpost that day were killed in the fighting.

Yakir was buried in Kiryat Ata on October 11. He is survived by his parents, Revital and Asaf, and his nine siblings, Avia, Shilo, Shani, Nofar, Nevo, Noya, Tahel, Yanai and Yinon.

The second-oldest out of the 10 children in the family, Yakir was born in Netanya, and moved to the small religious community of Moreshet in the Lower Galilee when he was in 3rd grade, according to a eulogy on the Maccabi Haifa website.

He was a big sports fan and loved watching the Maccabi Haifa team play, as well as following Maccabi Tel Aviv’s games. Yakir was described by his family and friends as a happy, modest, and faithful person who loved sports. He also enjoyed surfing, cooking, and hiking.

Yakir enlisted in the IDF in April 2022, first in the Multidomain Unit before moving to Golani, where he served as a squad commander in the 13th Battalion.

“Yakir was the happiest boy I know,” said his father, Asaf. “He was always smiling, he was a modest and humble person and had great virtue in his love for others and for God.”

A friend of Yakir’s, Binyamin, said Yakir was one of his best friends and was like a brother to him.

“It was always nice to talk to him with his wonderful smile that I’ll never forget. Yakir would listen to me and know how to give good advice. He supported me and wished me success in everything I chose,” he said.

His cousin, Hadar Cohen, told a local radio station that “Yakir was really a special member of the family, I was very close to him because we’re the same age — we were like twins.”

Hadar said she last saw him a week before he was killed, “the whole family was together and we celebrated and were happy — and in a moment he was just gone… as time passes it doesn’t get any easier, we just feel his loss more and more.”

For Yakir, “the army was really important, it was his aspiration to give back to the country,” she said. “He gave everything for this country, he was a huge hero. Yakir spoke all the time about the army, even before he enlisted, he really wanted to have a meaningful service, but always modestly and quietly… even when things were hard, he never complained — I remember our conversations on tough days, he would always say that ‘overall, things were OK.'”

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