St.-Sgt. Ya'akov (Zelco) Marviza

May 11, 2004 - St.-Sgt. Ya'akov (Zelco) Marviza, 25, of Kibbutz Hama'apil, was killed with five other soldiers when Palestinian gunmen detonated a mine under their armored personal carrier in the Gaza Strip.

Marviza 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.

Ya'akov Marviza was born in the former Yugoslavia to a Jewish Serbian mother and Christian Croatian father, who died when he was 10. After high school, he studied physical education at Novisad University and served in the Serbian Army. Two years ago he left his mother and sister and came to Israel. After studying Hebrew at an ulpan at Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael, he joined the army and moved to Kibbutz Geva, where he was "adopted' by Ze'ev and Vered Klein. Recently he moved to Kibbutz Hama'apil to be close to his girlfriend, Maayan.

"Ya'akov said that his activity in the army saved the lives of civilians and prevented terrorists from blowing themselves up in Israel," related Nissim Uzan, coordinator of lone soldiers on the kibbutz. "He felt that he was contributing to the country. "When I asked him why he decided to come to Israel, he would say that the country was in a struggle for its existence and he felt he had to contribute."

Although initially rebuffed, Zelco dreamed of joining an elite IDF unit. Tzvika Levi, the kibbutz movement's "father" of soldiers without families in Israel, spoke to the commander of the Givati Brigade about him and the latter authorized Zelco to join the engineering unit.

Marviza was supposed to travel to England in October with another IDF representative to raise funds for Atid, the non-profit association that "adopts" soldiers without families in Israel and provides housing for them. "Ya'akov was a patriotic, caring boy," said kibbutznik Yoav Gissis. "It was very important to him to serve in the army and he looked forward to advancing in rank. He saw his future in Israel."

St.-Sgt. Ya'akov Marviza will be laid to rest in the city of Novisad in his native Yugoslavia, in accordance with his mother's wishes. He is survived by his mother and younger sister.