Staff Sgt. Yishay Fitusi, 21: Took local troubled youth under his wing

Staff Sgt. Yishay Fitusi, 21, a soldier in the Golani Brigade’s Battalion 13, from Talmon, was killed while battling the Hamas invasion of the Nahal Oz IDF outpost on October 7.

Yishay and his comrades were on a routine patrol near the border when the Hamas attack began. They were called back to the base when news came that it had been attacked by Hamas gunmen.

Near the entrance of the base, their APC was hit by RPG fire, and they all had to get out and fight face-to-face against the gunmen. Yishay was slain along with his commander, Maj. Shilo Har-Even, Staff Sgt. Dvir Zakai, Staff Sgt. Dor Yarhi, Staff Sgt. Roy Bareket and Staff Sgt. Yaad Ben Yaakov.

Yishay’s battalion commander, Lt. Col. Tomer Grinberg, who was killed later fighting in Gaza, called his parents before entering the Strip and told them that Yishay had fought bravely to his last bullet.

He was buried on October 12 on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents, Inbal and Yitzhak, and siblings, Yair, Noam, Ohad, Roi, and Talya.

Yishay, the fifth child, was born in Gush Katif, the Jewish settlements in Gaza, where he lived until they were evacuated during the 2005 disengagement. They lived in caravans in Yad Binyamin for many years until they settled in the West Bank settlement of Talmon.

Yishay attended a yeshiva high school in the settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron before enlisting in the army in August 2021, joining the Golani Brigade.

“Yishay was a magical kid with a massive smile and the most beautiful eyes in the world. He looked at everyone at eye level without any ego, no matter who you were or where you came from,” his brother Yair told Channel 14 in an interview.

His mother, Inbal, told Arutz Sheva that Yishay wouldn’t rest when he got home from his base on Fridays.

“He would put his bag down, make schnitzels, help with preparations for Shabbat, take some snacks and drinks and meet with troubled youth who needed the strength and encouragement Yishay gave them,” she said.

His father, Yitzhak, told the 103FM radio station that Yishay was deeply connected with all his fellow soldiers and always spoke positively of people.

“Yishay was so connected… with everyone, with his soldiers, with troubled youth.” He had a dedicated hangout spot in Talmon “and he would sit there with wayward youth for hours, and helped them get into pre-military academies and to enlist.”

After he was killed, Yitzhak said they found a notebook in which he’d asked everyone to write positive things about each other: “That was really Yishay, his connection, his pride, his depth.”

In an interview with Talmon’s local paper, his sister Talya said that what stuck with her was Yishay’s “modesty and humility.”

“He wasn’t one of those standout kids. He was one of the modest ones on the side who got things done. He had an incredible light,” she said, adding that he was “indescribably special to me.”

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