The IDF on Sunday named Sergeant First Class (res.) Uriel Aviad Silberman as the latest casualty in the war.
The Swiss Jewish community salut Uriel Aviad Silberman's mother
The 23-year-old member of the Armored Corp was killed in the fighting in the southern Gaza Strip. Two others suffered serious injuries in the battle.
He was from the religious farming community of Nehalim in central Israel and had only recently completed his compulsory service and had not yet been assigned a unit in the reserves but when the war broke out, he insisted on joining the fighting.
Aviva Silberman, Uriel's mother, was in Switzerland with her parents when she learned about her son's death. This morning, as she left her home, people from the community awaited her holding Israeli flags.
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Paying last respects outside the house of the grandmother and grandfather of the late Colonel (res.) Uriel Aviad Silberman in Zurich, Switzerland
A relative said of Silberman that he had insisted on serving in a fighting unit although he was eligible for a medical exemption. "When the war began, Uriel went to his base and begged to join a force destined to fight. He was offered deployment providing security in the West Bank but that was not enough for him and he kept pushing for a position in Gaza.
After a month of efforts, he was accepted into an Armored unit and was quickly deployed in the war."
He will be buried on Sunday evening in Nehalim.
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