Sgt. Itay Amar, 19, a soldier in Battalion 601, fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF announced Sunday.
Amar, from Kochav Yair-Tzur Yigal, was promoted to the rank of sergeant posthumously.
Amar fell alongside seven other soldiers in the Gaza Strip. He was buried on Sunday in Kochav Yair.
Israel announces the deaths of eight fighters who fell in battle against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.Cpt. Wassem Mahmoud, 23Sgt. Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist, 21Sgt. Itay Amar, 19Sgt. Stanislav Kostarev, 21Sgt. Or Blumovitz, 20Sgt. Oz Yeshaya Gruber, 20Cpt. (res.) Eitan… pic.twitter.com/smKw9Z2o85
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) June 16, 2024
“Itay was someone who brought a smile to everyone’s faces,” Ohad, a good friend of Itay’s told Walla. “You simply couldn’t be sad around him. As a friend, he would stick to you and wouldn’t let you go until he lifted you from however low your spirit was, and made you smile. He was golden.”
Ohad continued, “He was extremely friendly. As soon as we reached high-school age, he immediately made friends with the whole year. Everyone knew him, and he knew all of them.”
In a video that circulated on Sunday shortly after the news broke, dated about two years back, Amar could be seen along with hostage Liri Albag, one of the female lookouts kidnapped from the Nahal Oz base on October 7. They are seen dancing together with elderly folks at an old age home in Beersheba as part of Masa Israel programming. They were in the same year in high school.