Hadas, the mother of Sgt. Ofri Yafe, a reconnaissance paratrooper who was killed late Tuesday night by IDF fire in Khan Younis, said she received a message Thursday morning from one of his fellow soldiers who is operating alongside the snipers, including the one that fired the shot that killed her son.
She described how the soldier asked to apologize, and said: “I wrote to him to pass on our love to the sniper who shot him, and that it is enough that Ofri’s life was cut short — we don’t want the poor sniper’s soul to be harmed. Does that make sense? Is there no value to life? It’s all so arbitrary. Why do we need this entry into Gaza? Truly. I’m not angry at the army.”
Hadas read on Army Radio the letter that the soldier serving with the snipers wrote: “How are you, Hadas? First of all, I want to say that I share in your immense sorrow. And in my own. I’m sending strength to you, to Yiftah, to all the siblings and to Roni. I know you may not agree to accept this, but I feel the need to apologize in my name and on behalf of the entire sniper team, and on behalf of the one who fired — a huge apology. Of course we’ll be there for him. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to attend the funeral in person today. I hope my parents and friends back home will come to pay Ofri their last respects on our behalf. I would be very glad to come when we get out, to talk and share memories. We’re here for you, for whatever you need.”
The mother of the killed soldier said she is not angry at the sniper who killed Ofri in a case of friendly fire.
“The sniper is my son just like Ofri, and I will hug him and ask him to go on with his life," she said. "I don’t have a gram of anger toward him or toward the sniper team, it’s truly so absurd. The sniper is expected to come today and we will hear him, and we hope he will be part of our family. We have three other children, and we promised them that same day that we would remain a happy family. He has many friends, and Roni, his girlfriend — they will be with us forever. We are not alone in this struggle.”
Later in the interview, Hadas noted that her son entered Gaza even though he was supposed to undergo knee surgery after being injured about a year and a half ago.
“All the time he was in the army I disconnected from the radio and the media," she said. "It was too hard for me to watch the politics and the distorted decision-making. I don’t have the slightest trace of anger toward him or toward the poor snipers. I pity them for having to be in this distorted situation. It’s so absurd, truly. It’s inconceivable. There was a boy, and suddenly he’s gone — just like that. All Ofri’s life we worried about him; he lived on the edge. He lived life at a million miles an hour.”
Yesterday, the IDF spokesperson cleared for publication that Yafe, from Moshav Hayogev in the Jezreel Valley, was killed in the Khan Younis area due to a case of mistaken identification. An initial investigation found that the soldier was hit by small-arms fire from IDF forces engaged in engineering operations to demolish structures. The incident occurred during nighttime activity in eastern Khan Younis, in the area of outposts along the buffer zone near the border. Paratrooper forces had arrived in the sector about a week earlier.
After the tragic incident was made public, Hadas and Yiftah, Ofri’s parents, said in a statement: “We are angry at the state, which puts the best of our sons, the salt of the earth, into illogical and unnecessary situations after all our hostages have returned home.”
3 View gallery
'We want to believe and hope that he is the last fallen soldier'
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
“Our Ofri was a magical child, a yellow chick full of light. He devoured life every single moment, loved his family, his friends from the moshav, his friends from his gap year and his teammates from the reconnaissance unit. He was a child who gave of himself completely, always the first to volunteer and give without asking for anything in return,” they also said.
“We have no anger toward the army,” the parents emphasized, directing their criticism at political policy: “We love everyone and embrace everyone.”
“We had the great privilege of being his parents," Hadas said. "His motto was ‘Live life,’ and he did that in 21 years. He was a person of abundance, generosity and kindness. He had many friends. He had a girlfriend for five years, and she is broken now. We want to believe and hope that he is the last fallen soldier. It is important for us to clarify that we are in no way angry with the sniper who fired. We take a small measure of comfort in having donated his organs. Maybe he will improve someone else’s quality of life or save someone from death.”
Ofri’s funeral will be held Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. in the military section of the cemetery in Moshav Hayogev.
First published: 09:44, 02.19.26