Sgt. 1st Class Urija Bayer, a 20-year-old Maglan Commando Brigade soldier, was killed in combat in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reported on Monday. He left behind his parents, Gideon and Nili, a brother and two sisters.
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Bayer, an Evangelical Christian who is not an Israeli national, was a volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces. He lived in Ma'alot Tarshiha and was critically injured in clashes near Khan Younis last week, after which he was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva. Despite efforts made to save his life, he later died.
The Ma'alot Tarshiha municipality mourned Bayer. "Ma'alot Tarshiha shares in the grief of the dear Bayer family with his fall in combat on the southern front. The community embraces his parents and bereaved family during this difficult time and sends its heartfelt condolences. May you not know more pain," the municipality wrote in a statement.
Micha Bayer, Urija’s uncle, said his nephew was still volunteering in the IDF when he was sent to fight in Gaza. "His unit is still fighting in Gaza, and we don’t know the details of the incident in which he was injured. He was seriously injured last week and has been fighting for his life at the hospital since then.”
He was away from home for a long time and came back only during the cease-fire. "He believed in what he was doing deeply," his uncle said. "On Sunday, at the hospital, I met a friend from his unit who was also injured, and he said that Urija was the strongest person in the team, both physically and mentally."
Micha Bayer added that "Urija was a quiet and modest boy, but full of joy, and it was fun to be with him. His brother Tzuriel and his sisters Racheli and Odelia are also combat soldiers, and they all volunteer and participate in the war."
Bayer's family made aliyah to Israel from Germany out of Zionist sentiments and established a nursing home and a guesthouse for Holocaust survivors.
Urija 's sister, Odelia, talked about the nursing home in a Ynet interview four years ago. "My grandfather is a German national who spent his whole life in Germany and remembers very well Nazi Germany and how they abused innocent Jews. He always dreamed of fixing, changing and trying to atone for everything that happened. Following my grandfather and grandmother’s beliefs, a desire to help the Jewish people grew in them."
"As a result, just over 50 years ago, they joined the Zedakah organization and ran the Beit El rehabilitation center in Shavei Tzion," she added. "Later, my grandfather and grandmother understood that it was not enough; there was still more to be done. So they founded the Beit Eliezer nursing home for Holocaust survivors in Ma'alot Tarshiha."
Urija 's uncle manages the nursing home. "We’re here under the divine command which calls on us to comfort and assist the people of Israel, and we see it as our mission," MIcha Bayer, a member of the Evangelical church, explained two weeks before the outbreak of the war. "We do not engage in missionary activity here," he clarified. "We operate for the benefit of the helpless out of our love for Israel, which stems from the scriptures."
Urija's grandfather and grandmother arrived in the country from Germany in 1972 on behalf of the Zedakah organization. The German organization, a non-profit body, relies on private donations from Germany and was founded in 1960 by Friedrich and Louise Nothacker, who were exposed to the suffering of Nazi concentration camp survivors. They decided to establish a guesthouse in Israel that provided free vacations for survivors and first opened in 1969.