The father of an Israeli soldier killed in Gaza earlier this year said his family was shocked to receive a civil lawsuit filed against their son’s estate over an accident that occurred when he was 15.
Avi Hadar, whose son Staff Sgt. Yahav Hadar, a fighter in the Nahal Reconnaissance Unit, was killed in January in an explosion in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip along with four comrades, said the claim has reopened deep wounds for the grieving family.
“It’s hard to explain. It’s crazy. It really feels like a punch to the gut,” Hadar told Israel’s ynet news site on Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed recently, stems from a 2020 ATV accident in which Yahav was involved at age 15. He had taken another boy, a friend of his sister’s, for a ride when the boy was injured. Hadar said the families were close at the time and that Yahav, who drove the vehicle without a license, took responsibility and performed community service as part of his sentence.
“My wife tried to contact them, but they refused to meet,” Hadar said. “She told them it didn’t make sense, that there was some misunderstanding, but they wouldn’t agree to talk.”
Both families live near each other in the northern community of Kfar Tavor, and Hadar said the situation has created tension in the small town. “The whole community is boiling. Everyone wants this to go away,” he said. “We have no intention of hurting anyone — we just want the lawsuit canceled.”
Hadar said he believes the case was pushed forward by the family’s insurance company, which sent an investigator to his business without permission. “He said, ‘I just learned your son was killed — he’s the main defendant in this case,’” Hadar recounted. “I told him, ‘Go to the cemetery in Kfar Tavor and talk to him — maybe he’ll answer you.’ It was surreal.”
He added that the lawyers representing the plaintiff sent what appeared to be a cancellation notice for the claim, but it turned out to be false. “We’re not lawyers — just bereaved parents,” he said. “It’s hard to believe anyone could act like this in such a situation.”
The Hadar family has two other daughters and continues to struggle with the loss. “It’s unbearable,” the father said. “It affects all of us. Yahav took full responsibility for that accident. It was a youthful mistake. He became a brave soldier who gave his life for the country — and now they’re reopening old wounds.”
According to Hadar, the boy injured in the accident has since recovered and is set to enlist in the Paratroopers Brigade. “My wife even called and asked them, ‘What happened? What’s missing? Why aren’t you talking to us? We live 700 meters away.’ There’s been no answer,” he said.