The IDF spokesperson has cleared for publication that Staff Sergeant (res.) Asael Babayev, a reserve soldier in the 941 Infantry Battalion, died of his injuries after being severely wounded in combat in Rafah on October 19 last year and fighting for his life for about three months. Babayev was wounded by an anti-tank missile in the incident in which Major Yaniv Kola and Second Lieutenant Itay Yaavetz were killed. He is survived by his wife and five children.