Tomer Nagar

Sgt. Tomer Nagar, 20, a Golani soldier from Azor, was killed on October 7 while battling Hamas terrorists near Kibbutz Kissufim.

He was buried in the military cemetery in Holon on October 10. He is survived by his parents, Chana and Ezra, and his siblings Eden, Gal, Amit and Maor.

His family said that on the morning of October 7, Nagar was alone guarding a storage bunker 150 meters from the Kissufim base. Army lookouts who spotted the terrorist invasion told soldiers at the base, including Nagar, to enter shelters. Nagar refused the instruction, insisting on staying at his post, alone, so that he could provide covering fire for other soldiers, according to multiple eyewitnesses and fellow servicemen.

He was eventually killed when his ammunition ran out after he had fired 675 bullets and killed dozens of terrorists.

Nagar’s brother Eden told The Times of Israel that soldiers who were at the base on the day of the attack all told the family the same thing: “Were Tomer not there, we would all be dead.”

His father told Channel 14 that before he enlisted in the army he volunteered in three different locations with at-risk youth, many of whom came to the shiva mourning house and told his family of the impact he had on their lives.

“He really loved Israel and he loved to put others ahead of himself,” his brother, Eden, said in an interview with Channel 13 news.

His aunt, Ketty Dahary, described him at his funeral “as a hero with a soft and huge heart… I watched with love as you grew up, blossomed, matured, and became a charming young man, who took responsibility — at first for himself and then for everyone… I knew that wherever you would go you would succeed, you would captivate everyone immediately, and that’s how it was.”

A noted lover of beer, his family decided to produce a beer in his name to memorialize him.

His family told Channel 13 that anytime Tomer had a break from the army he would go visit his grandmother “to speak with her a lot, to drink a cup of tea and to eat the tasty food she would make for him.” His grandmother said that “two days before he was killed he called her to tell her that he succeeded in convincing his commander to have her come and prepare couscous for the entire platoon.” They shared her recipe in his memory.

“He was very introverted and very quiet, all his friends would say he was a quiet leader. He did a year of national service and impacted so many people, convinced them to enlist to meaningful combat service, and to do meaningful things on behalf of the nation, and all quietly and modestly — we found out about it only at his shiva,” his sister Gal told Channel 13 news.

“I think he would want us to remember him with a smile — and ideally with a ‘cheers,'” Gal added. “He’d want us to bring a six-pack to the cemetery and to laugh with him.”
Source: The Times of Israel