1st Lt. Pinhas Cohen

Mar 6, 2002 - 1st Lt. Pinhas Cohen, 23, of Jerusalem, was killed overnight near the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis, in the course of anti-terrorist activity following the rocket attack on Sderot.

Lt. Pinhas Cohen was killed in an initiated operation in the village Kfar Abassan, east of Khan Yunis. The operation was launched in response to the Palestinians' firing of two Kassem 2 rockets into the town of Sderot injuring a 16-month-old baby. The troops, backed by armor and combat engineers, moved into to the Khan Yunis vicinity and Kfar Abassan east of the city, arrested a number of Palestinians suspected of being involved in terror attacks, and demolished three structures belonging to Palestinian terrorists. The entire operation took place under a heavy exchange of gunfire, in which Lt. Cohen was killed.

Pinhas Cohen, an officer in the Givati Brigade, was born and raised in Ofra. The son of Itzik and Rivka, he was the third child in a family of six. He graduated from a high school yeshiva in Ashdod, and then attended a military preparatory program in Atzmona for a year and a half. He married Yael last year, and they moved to Jerusalem. He was due to complete his army service next month.

His cousin Alon Hoffman said that Pinhas was physically very strong and would always take on the hardest tasks while smiling. "I'm sure that he would have said now that we must go on," Alon said.

1st Lt. Pinhas Cohen was buried in the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem. He is survived by his wife Yael, his parents, two brothers, three sisters.