Sergeant Major Zeed Mazarib, 34, from the Bedouin town of Zarzir, a tracker in the Southern Regional Brigade of the Border Defense Corps, was killed Thursday morning in the border infiltration incident, the IDF announced.
Atef Garifat, head of the Zarzir local council, eulogized the fallen tracker. "We lost a brave and courageous soldier who paid with his life to protect the country. He was in keva (ongoing IDF service) and performed his duties in the most professional and dedicated manner. He leaves behind a wife and two orphaned children. This is a sad and difficult day for all the residents of Zarzir," the town's mayor said.
Amir Mazarib, former head of the Zarzir council and a relative and neighbor of Zeed, also paid tribute to him. "A few weeks ago, I sat with Zeed at his home, drinking coffee together. He was a model father to his two daughters - ages 7 and 5 - who are now orphaned. His father told me he heard a knock at the door this morning. He thought the girls had come, but to his misfortune, it was casualty officers. Zeed paid with his life to protect the soldiers around him that he led. I'm sure many Israelis owe him their lives. Since the age of 18, he was on the front line of combat, always leading soldiers with the goal of defending the country."
Zeed paid with his life to protect the soldiers around him that he led. I'm sure many Israelis owe him their lives.
The incident began at 4:00 a.m., near Kerem Shalom and Hulit. Observers detected suspicious movement in the heavy fog on the radars and declared an alert at 4:30 a.m., indicating a suspected infiltration. They dispatched forces from the Bedouin Reconnaissance Unit responsible for the area. The forces conducted searches and at 5:00 a.m., during these searches, they encountered terrorists who opened fire and were armed with light weapons and RPGs.
Sergeant Major Zeed Mazarib was killed in the confrontation with the terrorists. An Israeli Air Force UAV, directed to monitor the cell, attacked the terrorists, killing two of them. Another terrorist was killed by tank fire shortly after, about 400 meters from the fence in the Gaza Strip, near Rafah. The battle lasted for several minutes, and after the intense exchange of fire, one terrorist managed to escape back to Rafah.
In recent weeks, IDF forces in the Gaza Strip have detected more and more infiltration attempts by Palestinian suspects toward Israel, mainly from the Khan Younis area where the ground operation ended about two months ago. In the vast majority of cases, the attempts are thwarted within a kilometer or so of the border thanks to observation ambushes and gunfire by soldiers and end in the killing of the suspects .
Thursday morning's incident is one of the worst that has happened on the Gaza border since the first week of the war, but the IDF constantly makes it clear to the forces in the enclave that the threat of infiltration and raids has not been removed and will continue in the years to come, even if on a limited scale by individual squads.