Israeli reserve soldier Effie Feldbaum killed in Rafah attack: 'He put everything aside for the sake of the nation'

Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday morning that Master Sergeant (res.) Effie (Yona Ephraim) Feldbaum from Zayit Raanan, a 37-year-old combat engineering soldier under the Gaza Division, was killed in southern Gaza. He is survived by his wife and five children.

Terrorists opened fire last night on an IDF soldier in the Jenina neighborhood of Rafah. During the incident, Hamas operatives fired two anti-tank missiles – one at a building and another toward the brigade commander’s command post, though there were no injuries in that strike.

In addition, a sniper fired at a bulldozer driver (Feldbaum), who was critically wounded and pronounced dead at the scene. The IDF responded with strikes to isolate the area, as this was another Hamas violation of the ceasefire deal.

Feldbaum’s brother-in-law, Rabbi Daniel Lonzer, told Kan Reshet Bet radio that Feldbaum’s five children “were his whole world,” but he still chose to serve in reserve duty because he felt he was “doing something meaningful” and was willing “to put everything aside for the sake of the people of Israel.”

Lonzer recounted that Feldbaum was shot by a sniper while working on an engineering vehicle in Rafah, as part of an operation to locate terrorists hiding in the city’s tunnels.

The incident took place in the same area and under similar circumstances to the attack 10 days earlier, in which Major Yaniv Kula and Staff Sergeant Itay Yaavetz of the Nahal Brigade were killed.

As in the previous incident, the IDF's 143rd Division was operating on the eastern side of the yellow line in Rafah to neutralize a strategic Hamas tunnel in the area. According to Israeli military assessments, several dozen Hamas operatives were inside the tunnel, armed with anti-tank missiles, rifles, and grenades.

The IDF’s combat engineering units, accompanied by Nahal Brigade troops, were working to expose and destroy all branches of the tunnel.

During the operation, Hamas terrorists emerged from several tunnel shafts simultaneously, initially firing anti-tank missiles at an engineering vehicle drilling to locate the tunnel route, then opening sniper fire on the security force nearby.

At the beginning of last week, Kula and Yaavetz were killed and three other soldiers were wounded in a combined Hamas attack when a terror cell emerged from a tunnel shaft and fired at an IDF bulldozer. Another cell fired at a second bulldozer, whose operator was seriously wounded. At the same time, Hamas snipers fired at the security forces guarding the bulldozers, wounding two more soldiers.