St.-Sgt. Assaf Moshe Fuchs

Mar 12, 2002 - St.-Sgt. Assaf Moshe Fuchs, 21, of Kibbutz Gvat was killed in an exchange of fire with wanted terrorists from the Islamic Jihad in the West Bank village of Saida, near Tulkarm.

A force consisting of paratroopers and members of a Golani reconnaissance unit entered Saida to root out Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. The troops surrounded the village, imposed a curfew and began searching homes and arresting suspects. A group of three armed Islamic Jihad gunmen tried to escape through nearby orchards. A paratroopers unit gave chase, and the Jihad gunmen opened fire. Paratrooper Assaf Fuchs was critically wounded and was pronounced dead shortly later. A second soldier was wounded. The soldiers shot and killed one of the gunmen, who was relatively high on Israel's wanted list. The other two were wounded and surrendered to the troops.

Assaf Fuchs was born and raised on Kibbutz Gvat, in the Jezreel Valley. He was given the middle name Moshe after his father's twin brother killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He attended the regional high school in Kibbutz Yifat, and towards the end of his last year took part with classmates from Kibbutz Gvat and Moshav Moledet in a trip to Greece. There he met and became close friends with Tomer Ron, killed just a day and a half earlier in Hebron. Both were home on leave last Shabbat, and met in the local pub on Friday night.

Assaf's older sister Avivit said, "It's a tradition in our family - both my mother and I served in the paratroops, and he followed in our footsteps. He had only eight months more to serve, and wasn't afraid of the hardships and dangers."

Assaf was deeply attached to his grandfather, Michael Fuchs, 78, who lost his son - and now his grandson. St.-Sgt. Assaf Moshe Fuchs was buried in Kibbutz Gvat. He is survived by his parents, Yehuda and Shula, his sister Avivit, 24, and his younger brother Alon, in 9th grade.