Younger sisters of two female soldiers killed by Hamas begin their IDF service
Yael Eshel, whose sister Roni was killed in attack on Nahal Oz base, and Yuval Marciano, whose sister Noa was kidnapped to Gaza and murdered, meet at recruitment base
The younger sisters of two surveillance officers, Sgt. Roni Eshel and Cpl. Noa Marciano, who were killed by Hamas began their Israel Defense Forces service on Monday, in an emotional moment for the two families at the military’s recruitment headquarters at Tel Hashomer.
The two new recruits, Yael Eshel and Yuval Marciano, were set to serve as instructors for combat soldiers.
Their families met coincidentally at the base in central Israel on Monday morning, just over a year after the deadly terror attack in southern communities and IDF bases sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
The elder Eshel and Marciano sisters, both 19, were serving at the IDF’s Nahal Oz base near the Gaza border when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, while committing many acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Marciano was taken hostage to Gaza during the attack, where she was later injured in an IDF strike and then murdered in captivity. The IDF announced her death on November 14, after Hamas published a propaganda video showing her speaking to the camera four days after being taken hostage and then showing her dead body.
Her body was recovered and returned to Israel for burial a few days later by troops of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 603rd Battalion from a building adjacent to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, following intelligence provided by the Shin Bet security service.
Eshel was killed during the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, when terrorists overran the IDF surveillance base where she and other female troops were caught unarmed, killing over 50 soldiers, including 15 surveillance troops, and abducting six to Gaza.
She was considered missing for more than a month until on November 9 the IDF finally confirmed that she had been killed during the initial attack.
“It’s been less than a year since they knocked on our door and told us Noa had been killed, and today I’m sending my second daughter, Yael, to the army,” Adi Marciano, the girls’ father, told Channel 12 news on Monday. “We didn’t sleep a wink last night.”
“It’s a day of mixed emotions,” he added, telling the television channel that while the military is “the most important organization in Israel,” it also suffers leadership issues and must undergo a full inquiry into the failures that led to the deadly Hamas attack last year.
He also called for the release of the remaining 97 hostages taken on October 7, especially the young female soldiers who are still held hostage in Gaza. The five other surveillance soldiers kidnapped from the Nahal Oz base — Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, and Naama Levy — are still captives.
Roni Eshel’s father, Eyal Eshel told Channel 12 that his younger daughter was joining the army even though he has “zero faith” in the IDF.
“It’s no secret that trust was broken that cursed morning, but we don’t have another IDF. This is our IDF, (the army) of all of the people of Israel and we will fix it,” he wrote in a post on social media.
“Good luck, Yaeli! Sorry if I’m a ‘nudnik’ and ask lots of questions over the next two years. We’ll sort it out together.”
A raw recording taken from Roni Eshel’s communication equipment on the morning of October 7 was aired in September, with her parents’ approval, allowing a glimpse into the last hours of the surveillance soldiers on the Nahal Oz military base.
Several former IDF surveillance soldiers, as well as the parents of their fallen comrades, have testified that they had to contend with repeated technical glitches in their monitoring equipment and were never trained on how to respond should their bases be overrun.
The families of the surveillance troops have long demanded a probe into the IDF’s apparent disregard for their children’s repeated warnings of an impending cross-border raid ahead of October 7.
