Master Sgt. (res.) Ofek Moalem, 23, of Jerusalem was remembered by friends and teachers as a modest, gifted young man who was always the first to volunteer to help others, after he and fellow reservist Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Kali were killed Thursday in an accidental drone explosion in the northern Gaza Strip.
Moalem and Kali, both soldiers in the 7007th Battalion, were stationed at a military post near Beit Hanoun when a drone they were operating malfunctioned and crashed inside the position. The two approached the downed aircraft and it exploded for reasons that remain under investigation. Both were evacuated by helicopter in critical condition to a hospital in Israel, where they were pronounced dead.
The military has suspended use of the drone model involved for two days while investigators examine the incident, including the possibility that communications interference contributed to the malfunction.
Moalem is survived by his parents, a twin brother and a younger sister. He had recently completed his first year studying mechanical engineering at Azrieli College of Engineering in Jerusalem.
Avshalom Nahmani, who was Moalem’s homeroom teacher during his final three years of high school, remembered him as an imposing young man physically but quiet and unassuming in personality.
“He was tall, powerfully built. Smart, shy and modest. The first to volunteer to help,” Nahmani said. “He was an excellent student, curious. COVID caught him right in the middle of high school, and he still kept studying with complete seriousness. He joined every Zoom class and submitted every assignment.”
One of Nahmani’s strongest memories of Moalem came during his senior year, when pandemic restrictions were still disrupting everyday life. A farmer from Moshav Sde Tzvi in southern Israel appealed for help through Hashomer HaChadash, an Israeli organization that organizes agricultural volunteering.
The school agreed to fill a bus with students willing to leave Jerusalem early in the morning to help with the harvest, but Nahmani worried few would volunteer.
“Ofek and his group of friends were the first to sign up,” he said. “They worked like tigers. They picked almost three tons of lemons. Quietly, without making a big deal out of it.”
Afterward, Nahmani took the students to a nearby hill and asked why they had agreed to wake up so early and work for a farmer they had never met and would probably never see again.
“Ofek said, as naturally as could be, ‘Someone needs us, so we come. There’s no question,’” Nahmani recalled.
“It may sound like a cliché, but he really was something special,” he added. “Quiet and unassuming, but truly exceptional.”
Moalem participated in a military preparation program at his school during 11th and 12th grades and later served in the Nahal Brigade.
His close friend Roi Almoznino said the two had known each other virtually their entire lives.
“Ofek and I have been best friends since we were born,” Almoznino said. “He volunteered to help everyone and never complained. I never heard him say anything bad. He was always positive.”
The two shared a love of sports and competed against each other both athletically and academically, he said.
Almoznino said their group of friends had met with Moalem only last week and that Moalem spoke enthusiastically about his reserve duty.
“He told us he was really happy in the reserves,” Almoznino said. “Since Ofek was discharged, he did a huge number of reserve days. Even when he didn’t have an order, and during the past year when he was a student, he chose to volunteer.”
“He really loved his friends and reserve duty,” he added. “On his second deployment, he became a commander in the reserves. He told me he couldn’t sit on the sidelines and not work hard.”
Moalem was scheduled to be buried Friday at noon at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.
Kali, 24, of Har Halutz, a small community in northern Israel, is survived by his parents, Yoav and Dr. Yael Kali, his older brothers, Roi and Itamar, and his partner, Rotem.
Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Kali
(Photo: IDF)
His death brought another wartime loss to the close-knit community. Living in the house across from the Kali family was Staff Sgt. Itay Saadon, a former classmate of Kali who was killed fighting in Gaza in November 2023.
The Misgav Regional Council, which includes Har Halutz, expressed condolences to Kali’s family.
“The Misgav Regional Council bows its head and shares in the grief of the Kali family upon learning of the death of Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Kali, a soldier in the 7007th Battalion of the 16th Brigade, in the Gaza Strip,” the council said.
Kali was scheduled to be buried Friday at 1 p.m. at the Misgav cemetery.
The deaths came when Moalem and Kali were operating two drones from the post near Beit Hanoun. The first drone was launched successfully and reached its intended destination. A second drone subsequently crashed inside the post, and the soldiers approached it before it exploded.
The IDF said it was investigating all possibilities surrounding the malfunction. Pending the findings, the military suspended use of the drone model involved in the incident.