Tal Danieli, 23: Budding barber planned to propose to girlfriend

Tal Danieli, 23, an Israel Electric Corporation employee, was accidentally shot dead on October 9, 2023, while working near the Gaza border.

Two days after the Hamas onslaught, Tal and several of his coworkers were called to the Avshalom Junction, near Kibbutz Holit across from southern Gaza, to carry out necessary electric work on infrastructure that was damaged in the attack.

Tal, who was employed as a security guard for the IEC, was working with his colleague Dani Aloush at the junction. According to a Ynet news report – citing an IDF investigation – a group of LOTAR counter-terror soldiers approached the junction. They saw the IEC workers in non-military vests and helmets, while not in IDF uniforms, and believed them to be terrorists, opening fire and killing Tal and Dani.

Tal was buried in Beersheba on October 10. He is survived by his parents, Suzanna and Yonatan, his eight siblings, Max, Ilan, Sivan, Assi, Shani, Omri, Efrat and Ben, and his girlfriend, Mor Nakar.

Born and raised in Beersheba in a large family, Tal attended local schools, according to a state obituary. He spent his last two years of high school living in a youth village with a police-oriented track that included sociology and criminology classes.

From a young age, his loved ones said, he loved animals, and was always bringing wounded animals he would find on the street home or to a vet to try and save them.

After graduating, Tal served as a paramedic in the Border Police during his mandatory service, stationed largely in the West Bank.

Following his release, he began working as a security guard with the IEC, while contemplating his next steps in life. His family said Tal had always dreamed of becoming a barber, and had completed a haircutting course and begun working out of his home.

Tal and his girlfriend, Mor, met in 2020 and moved in together, building a loving relationship. He was also raising three dogs and a number of hamsters and parrots, continuing his love of animals.

He was also a devout fan of the Hapoel Beersheba soccer team and never missed a game, his loved ones said.

“His dream was to become a barber, and I still cut my own hair with his electric shaver,” his father, Yoni, told the Ynet news site. His work with IEC “was temporary,” and he had many other plans for his future.

He noted that Tal was raising more than 100 parrots in his garden, and after his death they were dispersed in pairs among his friends as a memorial.

His girlfriend, Mor, told a local news site that “he wanted to propose, we talked about it a lot. He was an incredible boyfriend, perfect, loving, spoiling and supportive. We were raising three dogs together, he had so many plans and dreams for the future.”

Tal’s brother, Ilan, told the site that “he was an adventurer, he loved life, loved animals,” and was planning to get married in the coming year. “He didn’t have to go [to the Gaza border] that day, but he volunteered.”

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