St.-Sgt. Ofer Jerbi

May 11, 2004 - St.-Sgt. Ofer Jerbi, 21, of Moshav Ben-Zakai, was killed with five other soldiers when Palestinian gunmen detonated a mine under their armored personal carrier in the Gaza Strip.

Jerbi and his Givati Brigade comrades were returning from an operation in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City to destroy weapons factories when their APC was hit. The blast detonated left-over explosives the engineering unit was transporting, destroying the APC and killing the soldiers instantly.

Jerbi was a graduate of Tomashin High School in Tel Aviv and attended the technical academy of the air force. He grew up on Palmahim Air Force Base, where his father served in various positions.

"He was a handsome, wonderful man and brother, a fighter who loved the military," said his sister, Raya.

Jerbi followed his older brother, Shlomi, into the Givati Brigade, where he was a squad leader. With eight months left to serve, he was repeatedly offered the opportunity of taking advanced training courses, but chose to remain with his soldiers.

Shlomi Jerbi was on reserve duty in Samaria when he got the news about his younger brother. "Ofer was crazy about the army," he related. "He loved the army and it was important to him to be with his soldiers all the time."

St.-Sgt. Ofer Jerbi was buried in the military section of the cemetery in Yavne. He is survived by his parents, Zippora and Yitzhak, three brothers and a sister.