IDF Names 51-Yr-Old Reserve Sergeant Who Fell In Battle At Shifa Hospital

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The IDF announced that Senior Staff Sergeant (Res.) Sebastian Ayun (51) from Rosh Ha’Ayin fell in battle near A-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza. Ayun served as an officer in the 401 brigade’s command center.

Due to his advanced age and having suffered from cancer in recent years, Ayun was not eligible for reserve duty but insisted on volunteering immediately after the start of the war and spent the last five months in the Gaza strip.

Sebastian Ayun HyD

Sebastian’s brother Yonatan said that when on furlough, he had told his family that he enjoyed military service and felt that it was his goal, his life, his reason d’etre to defend the state of Israel. “We said to him: Enough Sabi, its not for you. He wasn’t supposed to be there at all, but he said: I will leave here (Gaza) either when the war is over or in a coffin,” Yonatan added.

Sebastian, who was supposed to celebrate his 52nd birthday on Purim, is survived by his spouse and by four children. In recent years he had to deal with cancer but succeeded in recovering from the disease. Despite all of his troubles, he enlisted once again, stating: “If I don’t enlist, if I’m not there then who will be there?”