What is the first thing I answer when I am asked “Who was your brother?”I can proudly say that my twin brother, Sgt. Tal Levy, was one of the most special heroes I have known in my life. Tal was a commander in the Seven Mortars unit in the 50th Battalion of the Nahal Brigade.
Dreamed of being a fighter
Tal served as a fighter for two years and seven months. He always dreamed of being a fighter, he aspired high, and was motivated.
In 2021 Tal was recruited to the Nahal Brigade and excelled throughout his military service.
On October 7, about a week and a half before his release, the terrible terrorist attack broke out and Tal was killed, bravely fighting the terrorists.
Tal and I were born and raised in Jerusalem together with our brother Michael and sister Shiran, by our parents Zehava and Abraham. Our childhood was full of shared experiences, travel, and entertainment. What I most liked was when we would go out together with friends and return in the wee hours of the morning.
We went to elementary school together, but after that, each continued on the path that best suited us. I studied at Dror high school in Jerusalem and Tal at Or Torah high school in Ramot, where he graduated with honors.
"A gentle, considerate, and humane boy"
He was a gentle, considerate, and humane boy; he loved to play football and was a fan of Beitar Yerushalayim and Real Madrid. I remember our laughs together; the language that only the two of us understood; the long conversations; and also the little fights. I would pay a fortune to fight with him again.
As Tal neared the end of his military service, he had planned a big trip to South America with some good friends. Tal, for whom everything had to be orderly and organized, already had his plane ticket and travel equipment, waiting for the day when he would be released.
On the last day at home, over the Sukkot holiday, before returning to the outpost along the Gaza border, he tried on the clothes for the trip and told me: “I’m ready for the big trip!”
A heroic death defending others
On the morning of that black Shabbat, at sha’at gesher [IDF term for dawn/dusk when visibility is reduced and awareness must be heightened] at the Sufa Outpost, Tal was on guard with his 11 soldiers. At around 6:30 a.m., they started hearing explosions.
Tal reassured his soldiers, “Okay, we’ve been across from Gaza for a month and a half, there are explosions here every day, it’s not new to us, but we will increase vigilance...” But after a few minutes, a massive and unusual barrage of rockets was launched in the direction of the Gaza border communities, some of which fell in the area of the outpost and beyond it.
At that moment, Tal was informed of the firing of Purple Rain rockets and he immediately moved his soldiers into a shelter with other military personnel in the outpost.
A few minutes later, Tal was informed that a terrorist attack was underway on the outpost. He ran with his soldiers to get the weapons with which to return fire. He fired 35 mortars for about half an hour. Then he realized that the attackers were some 60 Nukhba (Hamas unit) terrorists and that around 60 more were coming in through the base’s main gate. Tal ran to take cover inside the position and started shooting at the terrorists, while soldiers Amit Kazeri and Eshel van Straten ran to get ammunition.
Amit and Eshel returned to the armored vehicles and had an insane amount of firepower directed at them by the terrorists who were trying to penetrate the outpost.
The soldiers were divided into three squads: Tal’s squad, Amit’s squad, and Eshel’s squad. Tal’s and Amit’s covered Eshel’s, who were hit by gunshots, and helped them reach the dining room safely. The dining room was used as a bunker and was the safest place on the base. Amit and Tal attempted to hold the outpost for a long time, and still not understanding the magnitude of the incident.
After a few minutes of fighting during which Sgt. Tal Levy and his team eliminated terrorists, one of Tal’s soldiers, Yunati, shouted to Tal and a colleague: “A terrorist is flanking us!” There was an RPG. The terrorists fired an RPG missile at them. Tal and Amit were wounded by shrapnel in the stomach and hand. Amit was led to the nearest room by two gunmen and Tal stood up from the flames and with his last strength, ran into the room.
Yonathi, Tal’s soldier, together with the three combat medics gave first aid to a colleague as Tal was lying on the floor and Yonathi was caressing Tal’s head and begging him to stay awake, to try to hold onto him – but Tal had already stopped responding. The death of Sgt. Tal Levy was determined inside that room.
This was my brother, purposeful, determined, and always thinking of others before himself. I want to shout to him: “I’m proud of you, brother, proud to be your twin, and I will never stop missing you”.
Three of Tal’s soldiers were also killed in the battle: Amir Lavi, Segev Schwartz, and Nachman Dekel.
As part of the commemoration project for Sgt. Tal Levy, the writer, along with friends and family, have set up a campaign, in which they are collecting donations for the purpose of dedicating a Torah scroll for the uplifting of Tal’s soul at https://giveback.co.il/project/76995