Sergeants Yosef Dassa and Daniel Levy, who were killed Friday morning by an IED in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district along with two additional soldiers from the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, were classmates, enlisted together in the IDF and completed their basic training last month.
The unit was en route to their target, a school complex harboring numerous terrorists when the soldiers were struck by what appeared to be two powerful explosions resulting from a booby-trapped site as they crossed an alley in the Gaza City neighborhood.
Sergeant Yosef Dassa, 19, from Kiryat Bialik, attended the same class at ORT Kiryat Motzkin High School as Sergeant Daniel Levy, also 19, from Kiryat Motzkin.
"Daniel was at the school last week to pick up his high school diploma and said he was visiting before heading to Rafah. They have been close friends since elementary school, always together," high school principal Sara Pinto mourned the two graduates.
"They enlisted together. They were in the same unit. When we heard about Daniel, his teacher told me, 'Yosef is with him, we need to check on him.' She knew they were together but didn't yet know that something had also happened to Yosef. It's chilling, and we don't know how to process it, especially on the eve of Memorial Day.
IDF forces operating in Gaza City's Zeitoun district
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
“This morning, we held a memorial ceremony for two school graduates who fell on October 7—Moriya Raviv, who was murdered at [the Nova music festival], and Golani fighter Shalev Dagan. And now, Daniel and Yosef have joined this painful list. It's heartbreaking for the school."
The pair’s class teacher Yifat Twito tearfully shared at Yosef's family home, "We've been hit by the hardest blow of our lives. They were a class of 24 graduates, and two of them were killed today. Daniel and Yosef were very close friends, always together—on trips, in studies and in the military.
“Just last week, after Passover, Daniel came to the school in uniform. He called me and asked, 'Where are you?' I told him, 'At the school.' He said, 'I'm coming to give you a hug before I enter Gaza.' He came and gave me a hug. It was the last hug. The grief is immense.
Sergeant Itay Livny from Ramat Hasharon and Sergeant Ermiyas Mekuriyaw from Be'er Sheva, both 19 years of age. Another 931st Battalion soldier and an officer were severely wounded in the blast.
Livny graduated from Alon High School in Ramat Hasharon, majoring in biology. "Itay was a young man of gentle manners and a tender soul, known for his original and profound thinking. He had a shy, charming smile. He was a beloved friend to his classmates and teachers. His loss is immense for the school, the city and the State of Israel," high school principal Andy Kalisky eulogized him.
Livny was also actively involved in sports, playing in the basketball and soccer teams of the Ramat Hasharon Sports Association from a young age until last summer, when he enlisted in the IDF. He is survived by his parents, Amir and Naomi, his twin brother Yoav and his older sister Keren.
Mekuriyaw attended the AMIT Wasserman High School in Be'er Sheva. His 12th-grade teacher, Adi Mamo, mourned his loss, saying, "He was a boy with kind eyes and a good heart. A good friend, loving and beloved by all. Ermiyas was profoundly humble and respectful, and his loss is grievous and unimaginable."
Additionally, two soldiers from the 401st Brigade’s 9th Battalion were seriously wounded when an anti-tank missile hit their tank in the southern Gaza Strip. The wounded soldiers were transported to a hospital for medical treatment, and their families have been notified.