Omer Hermesh

Omer Hermesh, 48, was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7.

He is survived by his parents, mother Hava and father Shai Hermesh, an ex-Kadima MK, and his four siblings, Linoy, Einav, Shir and Yaniv.

On that Saturday morning, he told his parents, who also lived in Kfar Aza, that the terrorists fired into his home, wounding his hand, and he was going to hide in his safe room. He even posted photos on Facebook of the enormous damage inside his home from the volley of gunfire.

His family never heard from him again and waited desperately for any news of him before his body was located and he was buried on October 20 in Shefayim, where members of the kibbutz were relocated.

Hermesh, a devoted dog owner, was remembered as a deeply dedicated fan of the Hapoel Tel Aviv sports club, and very active among the fan base, as well as being notably outspoken and never holding back on his thoughts. His funeral was attended by a sea of people in red shirts who memorialized him by donning the colors of the team he loved.

Following the Hamas onslaught, Israel Hayom republished an interview with Hermesh conducted five years ago, in which he expressed his love for the kibbutz where he made his life: “My life is here. When I finish a day of work, I take a bottle of beer, listen to one of my records and enjoy every moment… I don’t want to live in Israel in any place other than Kfar Aza.”

At his funeral, his mother, Hava, said: “You promised me more than once that as long as I was alive, you wouldn’t die. Your promise was broken by bloodthirsty murderers, and I am left speechless… My Omer, sometimes I felt that we were still connected via umbilical cord, so how can we part? How can I live without you? How can it be that I will never see you again?”

His sister Shir said at his gravesite: “I never met anyone like you, I never met anyone similar to you, the one and only. Your soul was so pure, like that of a child, with pure and good eyes and a smile only a child could have, like nothing changed in you since you were born. You never had bad intentions, you captivated everyone in different ways… if only you could have seen what happened here over the past 10 days in our attempts to find you. The ground shook as hundreds if not thousands of people turned over every stone to find you, unable to accept that your story was over.”

His friend and fellow fan Liron Teeni said at his funeral: “Omer, there were games of Hapoel that had fewer fans than are here right now [at your funeral]. Omer, there were players on the team who were written about less than has been written about you after you died… Farewell Omer, Hapoel lost again.”
Source: The Times of Israel