Sgt. Nehoray Leizer was killed in battle in southern Lebanon, the IDF reported Monday.
Leizer, 19, from Eilat, served in the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion in the 401st Armored Brigade, it said. He is survived by his parents and two siblings.
According to initial assessments, Leizer was killed when an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah hit his armored personnel carrier.
He was buried later in the day at Eilat’s military cemetery.
Leizer’s sister, Mai, said he was “a humble boy, salt of the earth, with the biggest heart in the world.”
“He fought to get in [to the IDF],” she told KAN News. “He wasn’t supposed to get in. He wanted it. We never imagined that [they] would knock on our door.”
Leizer was supposed to come home on Thursday, Mai said.
Leizer’s sister: 'He was always smiling'
He was a musician and wrote songs in his free time, she said, adding that he was also always careful to call and update his family so that they would not worry.
“At any moment he could, he would FaceTime us,” Mai said. “We all always connected directly, no matter how we saw a phone call from him. And, of course, he was always smiling, and he was always making sure to calm us down. Just taking care of our peace of mind, no matter how scared he was inside, and we know he was scared. He didn’t let it affect him. He just looked ahead.”
Another soldier was severely wounded during the incident.
On Saturday, the IDF reported the death of St.-Sgt. Noam Hamburger, who was killed by an explosive drone strike near the Lebanese border. He was a technology and maintenance soldier in the brigade’s 9th Battalion.
During the incident in which Hamburger was killed, another soldier was severely wounded, and a noncommissioned officer was lightly wounded.
Last Wednesday, 401st Brigade Commander Col. Meir Biderman was severely wounded in an explosive drone strike. In the same incident, a reservist officer was moderately wounded, and a noncommissioned officer was lightly wounded.
Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.