Yevgeny Ferder, 50, named as victim of Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv
Ferder came to Israel from Belarus in 1999, served in Russia’s army and IDF, ‘loved playing ice hockey and soccer,’ says niece; he was killed in hostel where he lived and worked
Israeli authorities named Yevgeny Ferder as the man killed in a Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv early Friday morning.
Ferder, 50, an Israeli citizen, had moved on his own to Israel from Belarus in 1999, according to Hebrew media reports. He is survived by a niece in Israel and an older sister in Belarus.
“He was in the Russian army and loved playing ice hockey and soccer,” Ferder’s niece Anastasia told the Ynet news site. After coming to Israel, she said Ferder joined the Israel Defense Force and served in a combat unit, and has continued serving as a reservist.
Ferder was killed and several others injured when an explosive-laden drone launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck Tel Aviv at 3:12 a.m. on Friday. The drone took an unusual route, traversing Egypt and approaching Tel Aviv from the Mediterranean in the west. The army later said air-raid sirens did not sound, and the drone was not shot down, due to human error.
It struck adjacent to the building housing Momo’s Hostel, where Ferder lived and worked as a maintenance worker.
According to Haaretz, Ferder was born in 1974 in Novorossiysk, a Black Sea port city in southern Russia. He served two years in Russia’s military and worked as a truck driver before coming to Israel in 1999.
In Israel, he first lived in an absorption center in Tiberias, where he studied Hebrew while working in nearby Kibbutz Degania Bet. Later, he moved to Kiryat Gat to be near his father, who had come to Israel years earlier. Ferder’s mother had stayed in Russia. where she passed away.
After working at a factory in Kiryat Gat for some years, Ferder moved to Momo’s Hostel in Tel Aviv.
“I was his family here,” Ferder’s niece told Ynet. “He wasn’t married, lived alone. We called each other every day, and would often get together.”
Yevgeny Ferder, 50, was killed by the Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv overnight.
May his memory be a blessing. ????️ pic.twitter.com/HefQkWb7YE
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) July 19, 2024
The drone that killed Ferder was the first Houthi-launched drone to reach Tel Aviv.
The Iran-backed Yemeni rebels have launched over 200 drones and cruise missiles at Israel since November, according to the military. Along with Friday’s drone attack in Tel Aviv, a cruise missile struck near Eilat in March.
The IDF says the vast majority of the threats were intercepted by US forces and in a handful of cases by Israeli fighter jets and ground-based air defense systems.
The Houthis, who have also wreaked havoc on Red Sea shipping, say their offensive actions are in support of the Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war there. The war was sparked on October 7, when the Strip’s Hamas rulers led a thousands-strong attack on southern Israel that left nearly 1,200 people dead and saw another 251 taken hostage.
