Soldier Dies In Hezbollah Attack, Police Commando Officer Succumbs To Wounds From Samaria Operation

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — While Israel continues its Gaza operations, it is also fighting on two other fronts- with Hezbollah in the north and with Hamas terrorists in Judea and Samaria. Two members of security forces fell on these fronts on Wednesday.

The IDF announced Thursday morning that Staff Sgt. Chaim Sabach (20) from Holon, a combat soldier in the 869 battalion of the Galilee division, fell in battle in northern Israel on Wednesday. Chaim was hit by a mortar shell launched from Lebanon towards Malkiya in the upper Galilee. Another soldier was lightly injured.

Chaim, the youngest of three children, is survived by his parents, sisters and nephew. He is the 614th casualty of the IDF and security forces during the course of the current war.

Chaim Sabach HyD

Avi Shimon, a former teacher of Chaim, eulogized him, stating “Don’t forget the smile and goodheartedness of Chaim. He was a boy with a golden heart, I saw this from the first times we met, I saw it in his eyes and smile, he was an inquisitive student with great joie de vivre, always helping, empathetic and willing to help others.

Shimon said that Chaim had without realizing it parted from him this week when he was called back to the north after a furlough. “He told me that I was the closest person to him and I was like an older brother.”

Chaim had initially been in non-combat units but requested to be transferred to a combat position. When Shimon asked him if he was afraid, he responded “No, we’re doing what is necessary.”

Holon mayor Shai Kenan also eulogized Chaim, who had “studied software engineering, received a certificate of merit for his service in Swords of Steel, loved sports, had good values and great joie de vivre.”

Chaim will be laid to rest at 2 PM in the Holon military cemetery.

Also on Wednesday, a Border Police officer who was critically wounded in a firefight with Palestinian terrorists during a raid in Samaria over the weekend succumbed to his wounds.

Chief Inspector Yitav Lev Halevi, 28, a commander in the Border Police’s elite Yamam counter-terrorism unit, was wounded during an operation in the town of Dayr al-Ghusun, near Tulkarm, on May 4.

He was admitted with a critical head injury to Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva where doctors had to declare him dead after four days of fighting for his life, the hospital said.

Yitav Lev Halevi HyD

Halevi joined the national counter-terrorism unit in late 2022, having previously served in the IDF’s elite Maglan commando unit, where he also served as deputy platoon commander. He succeeded Yamam Superintendent Moshel Shlomo, who fell in combat against Hamas terrorists on October 7. Halevi is the son of Deputy Commissioner (ret.) Yoram Halevi, former head of Yamam, Jerusalem District Police and Southern District Police and current National Road Safety Authority chief.

A joint IDF and Yamam force, acting on intelligence received by the Shin Bet, engaged in a more than 13-hour operation over the weekend against terrorists barricaded in a house in Dayr al-Ghusun. During the exchange of fire, five terrorists involved in the murder of Elhanan Klein near the Palestinian village of Beit Lid last November were eliminated. Another terrorist surrendered himself to security forces.

May their blood be avenged.