Oran Alfasi

Oran Alfasi, 22, from Rehovot, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while he was visiting Kibbutz Nirim on October 7.

Alfasi was visiting his girlfriend on the kibbutz and went into the reinforced room when the air raid sirens began. Hamas tried to break into the room as he was holding the handle closed and shot through the door, killing him, while his girlfriend survived.

He was buried on October 10 in Rehovot. He is survived by his parents, Keren and Kobi, and his siblings Noam and Yonatan.

Alfasi worked at the hi-tech company Check Point, and was remembered for his love of the ocean and surfing.

His uncle, Ytsik, wrote on Facebook that his nephew had a “captivating smile and big love, he grew up on values of peace and loving others… Oran was a hero, he leaned on the door of the safe room to protect his girlfriend.”

Oran’s aunt, Mazel Ben Zaken, said she was not surprised by his bravery: “He was a child full of love and looked only for good. He loved his family very much.”

His father, Lt. Col. (res.) Kobi Alfasi, was called that morning to the war room at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv to help oversee the fight against Hamas, without knowing his son was in a kibbutz overrun by terrorists.

Recounting his day to Channel 12 news, he said the moment he got a call telling him Oran had been killed, “is the moment when a hand reaches into your chest and pulls out a piece of your heart, and that’s it.”

“He was an angel, a guardian angel,” his sister, Noam, told Channel 12. “He would always protect me, even when I was protecting him. And in his final moment, he chose to protect who he was with.”