The nephew of Gadi Eizenkot, former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and former member of Israel’s War Cabinet, was one of two soldiers killed on Sunday fighting Hamas terrorists in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Capt. Yogev Pazi, 22, from Giv’ot Bar, a platoon commander in the Nahshon Battalion of the IDF’s Kfir Brigade, and Staff Sgt. Noam Eitan, 21, from Hadera, who served in the same battalion, were killed in Beit Lahia. Another soldier was severely wounded in the same incident.
Pazi is the third close relative of Eizenkot’s to have been killed in Gaza in the past year. His son, Master Sgt. (res.) Gal Meir Eizenkot, 25, was killed on Dec. 7, 2023, and another nephew, Sgt. Maor Cohen Eizenkot, 19, was killed a day later.
“Our hearts ache for two heroes who fell today in Gaza. Our beloved Chanah, Gadi and the Pazi family, our hearts are breaking with you during these difficult times,” said National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz.
“We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of Israel’s heroes Noam Eitan and Yogev Pazi who fell in the defense of our homeland. The entire nation of Israel salutes you. Gadi Eizenkot lost a son, a nephew and now another nephew in this war. A family of heroes. I want to send a strong hug, and I bow my head in the face of this disaster. May their souls be bound in eternal life,” said Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The IDF death toll on all fronts since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre now stands at 799, according to official figures. Of these, 376 have fallen in Gaza.
Additionally, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, a member of the Israel Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, was fatally wounded during a hostage rescue mission in Gaza in June, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded there in May.
