Supt. Moshael Shlomo, 32: Elite cop and newlywed loved extreme sports
Killed battling Hamas gunmen at the Sha’ar Hanegev Junction on October 7
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Superintendent Moshael Shlomo, 32, a commander in the Israel Police’s Yamam counter-terrorism unit, from Ramle, was killed on October 7 battling the Hamas invasion of southern Israel.
The morning of the attack, Moshael was sent with his comrades to the front lines to battle the Hamas attack. At 7:45 a.m. his wife called him and he said, “I’m busy, I’ll get back to you,” and hung up. That was the last she heard from him.
He engaged in a firefight with Hamas gunmen at the Sha’ar Hanegev Junction outside Sderot. Moshael was slain alongside fellow Yamam officers First Sgt. Dror Altun and Sgt. Maj. Bar Sivan.
He was buried in Ramle on October 9. He is survived by his wife, Shahar, his parents, Simha and Haim, and his siblings Elior, Yakir, Amit and Lia.
Born and raised in Ramle, the second-oldest in the family, Moshael attended local schools and long dreamed of experiencing a meaningful military service, according to a memorial website.
After finishing high school, he enlisted in the IDF in 2009 and served in the Paratrooper’s Brigade.
Following his release, Moshael decided to continue serving the country and in 2013 he joined the Israel Police, serving in the Border Police’s Yamam special ops unit. He underwent special combat training and later training as a bomb sapper and breacher. In 2020 he completed an officer’s course and was then appointed as a team commander in Yamam.
In September 2022, Moshael married Shahar, whom he met during his officer’s training. He loved extreme hobbies, enjoying mountain climbing, rappelling, snowboarding and more, according to an online eulogy.
“Moshael was an amazing child,” his mother, Simha, said in a memorial video. “He did only good wherever he went.”
She recalled how he started an initiative to go on Purim with his comrades dressed in superhero costumes and rappel down the sides of hospitals “and knock on the children’s windows and hand out presents. It was very moving.”
His sister, Amit, said Moshael was the first she’d call when stressed or troubled. “He knew how to say the right thing and to be there for you,” she said.
In a memorial video, Shahar recounted how Moshael proposed inside the Keshet Cave in the Upper Galilee during a rappelling adventure: “We both went down with the ropes and halfway he stopped us, pulled out the ring — he dropped it on his shirt — and then he looked at me with this face of ‘that wasn’t part of the plan.'”
Shahar said that with “all his size, the enormity of him, his big heart, I think ultimately he was a simple guy, smiling, who loved life, loved his job, was prepared to give everything for this country. He was ready to sacrifice himself.”
The Times of Israel Community.