Six hundred IDF soldiers have ben killed since the start of the war in Gaza. The latest fallen soldier, whose death was announced early on Monday morning, is Staff Sgt. Nadav Cohen, 20, from Haifa, who was killed by an anti-tank missile in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Cohen was part of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion and is the 256th soldier to be killed during the ground operation in Gaza.
Cohen attended the Herzl School in Haifa and graduated from its high school. The principal of Herzl High School, Milena Miron, paid tribute to him: "Nadav was a sensitive and beloved child. He explored the world; he traveled to Boston, Germany and studied space exploration in Moscow. He volunteered willingly and happily. He smiled to the world."
His class teacher Giora Smolensky, said goodbye to his prize student. "Our Nadav. What a man has left us. The magical boy of the class. The captivating smile and the endless giving. Always the first to volunteer, to lead, to serve as a personal example. He always took part in the class discussion and always in a valuable way. I was privileged to know such a special person.
Sunday night, the IDF announced the fall of Sergeant First Class Sivan Weil, 20, of the Commando Brigade’s Egoz unit, from Ra’anana, who succumbed to wounds sustained in combat with Hamas in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip on Friday. Sivan was part of the Egoz force that was hit by an RPG missile in a building close to Nasser Hospital, which killed Sgt. First Class Alon Kudriashov and injured 15 other Egoz soldiers. Weil was among six service members severely injured before he later died from his injuries early Sunday. He left behind his parents, who immigrated from France in 1998, two brothers and a sister.