“Aviel is with me in spirit, in my soul. He pushes me forward. Even if he is not here physically, he is always with me,” Omer, a reserve combat soldier from the IDF’s 9th Brigade, told JNS this week.
He was speaking of his 27-year-old brother, who was murdered by terrorists at the Supernova music festival.
The 9th Brigade, also known as the Oded Brigade, is a distinguished infantry unit made up of reservists who were in the Golani Brigade during their mandatory service.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Omer was called up for reserve duty in the north in the wake of the Hamas onslaught in the south. He did not know his brother was in danger.
“I was with my wife and my kids at my in-laws in Moshav Berekhya near Ashkelon. At 9 a.m., my mother sent me a message telling me she couldn’t find my brother. I knew he was at a party, but I did not know which one,” he said.
“Around 10:30 a.m., I was deployed to the Filon base in northern Israel. On the way there, I was on the phone with friends of Aviel, looking for him. His phone rang until 10 a.m. and then it stopped,” he continued.
At 11 p.m., his mother asked him to come back. Omer received permission to leave his base and went home.
“Ten minutes later, I got a video from my big sister. I opened it and I saw my brother on the floor with five bullets in his back, it was very clear he was no longer alive. That’s how I realized that my brother was murdered,” he said.
After sitting shivah, the seven-day mourning period, Omer was deployed to the Gladiola outpost on Mount Dov in the far north. He served in various locations in northern Israel until October 2024, when his unit joined the fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
He spent 351 days on reserve service.
“It’s hard for my family to cope. At the beginning, I faced a lot of resistance. My parents said they had paid enough and didn’t want to grieve again. But I can’t leave my second family alone. I don’t see a situation in which my comrades will be fighting, and I won’t,” Omer said.
“My brother and I were very good friends—we were soccer fans, supporters of Betar Jerusalem. We used to go to almost all the games. Aviel sang ‘Hatikvah’ with all his heart at the games, and that’s something that keeps me knowing what I’m fighting for,” he continued.
“In the end, what is crucial is the past, and the future and of our children. I don’t want anyone in this country to go through the grief, the pain and the loss that I dealt with. It’s really something that I don’t wish upon anyone,” Omer said.
‘My time to save others’
Gal, another combat soldier from the 9th Brigade and a resident of Kibbutz Re’im, a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip, said it was important to prevent more massacres by taking part in the fighting.
On Oct. 7, Gal sheltered in a saferoom for more than 30 hours. Terrorists invaded his kibbutz and set up a position 100 meters from where he lived. They tried to break into his home. When they didn’t succeed, they shot it up and threw hand grenades.
After 30 hours, the army rescued him and his family. They were evacuated to Eilat.
Gal, who is almost 40 years old, joined his reserve unit only about 60 days ago. He felt that he needed to come back. Most of his team had been discharged, so he joined another combat team.
“On Oct. 7, when I was inside our safe room, I couldn’t do anything; I was so helpless. Many soldiers came to fight for us, including my commander Col. Roi Levy, who died a hundred meters away protecting my home,” Gal told JNS.
“I felt guilty, and since then, I know I have to go fight for others. People lost their lives saving my family—now it’s my time to go save others. No one will do the work for us; we have to do it for ourselves, and this is why we serve,” he said.
“I feel this is our second war of independence. We need to fight for our lives here. We know the Israeli nation gives us the courage to continue with what we are doing here,” Gal said.
Champion
Since Oct. 7, the brigade has consistently ranked among the first in the number of reserve duty days served. Their primary focus has been the northern front.
“It’s a great privilege to serve in the army, particularly in these times. I couldn’t allow myself to stay home,” Jonathan Zamora, a reserve soldier also from the 9th Brigade, told JNS on Sunday.
Zamora’s brother Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, an officer in the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, died on June 8, 2024, while commanding a rescue mission in central Gaza that freed four hostages—Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv.
On Oct. 7, Jonathan saw videos of terrorists in trucks invading the city of Sderot, near the Gaza border. He called Arnon at 7:15 a.m. He did not answer; he was already engaged in combat.
“I woke my wife up and told her to get out of bed because we’re at war. I was called up to serve in the north. I have been doing rounds in the north ever since and have served over 250 days of reserve duty,” Zamora said.
“Arnon and I were raised like this. Our parents didn’t ask me not to serve [after Arnon died]. I thought about them a lot and whether I should do this to them or not, but I couldn’t allow myself to stay home despite how worried my parents are. I couldn’t not have come,” he added.
To the Israeli people, Zamora says to be strong in these challenging times.
“The Iranian regime wants to destroy us with the atomic bomb. We have aerial superiority and we will complete our mission,” he said.
During the peak of the conflict, the 9th Brigade fought for several weeks inside Lebanon.
The soldiers of the brigade come from diverse backgrounds, including a mix of religious denominations, Jews and non-Jews.
Several members of the brigade founded an NGO called Oded Spirit. It provides year-round support to soldiers and their families. The programs include psychological and emotional support, assistance for bereaved families and educational scholarships.
“The story of the Oded Brigade is the story of Israel—one of sacrifice, service to a cause greater than ourselves, and the realization that what unites us is stronger than what divides us,” former deputy brigade commander Col. (res.) Yossi Tal, CEO of Oded Spirit, told JNS.
“The Oded Spirit organization was created to support the 9th Brigade, its soldiers and their families. We understand that reserve duty is no longer a short-term commitment, but a long-term, demanding part of daily life. We are here to support them,” he said.