“Happy holiday from Lebanon, love you from afar,” Staff Sgt. Gilad Harel wrote in a note attached to a bouquet of flowers he sent to his partner, Neta Katz, before entering combat in Lebanon.
On Wednesday morning, hours before he was laid to rest, the bouquet arrived by courier at Katz’s home.
“I thought it was a condolence bouquet, and I read the note,” Katz said at his funeral. “You are the perfect boyfriend, smart and the most beloved. You made me a happy person. Thank you for the flowers, my angel. I love you more than anything in the world. Thank you for what you were for me.”
Harel, 21, a fighter in the Nahal Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, was buried Wednesday in the military section of the cemetery in Modiin-Maccabim-Reut. He and three other soldiers from the unit were killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.
Among the hundreds of mourners who came to pay their respects were Leon and Larisa, the parents of Staff Sgt. Maxsim Entis, who was also killed in the same battle. Entis’ sister, Jenia, and brother, Eddie, also came to pay their last respects to the man who had been Maxsim’s best friend.
The funeral was held before the start of Passover to allow time for Harel’s sister, Adi Harel, to return after receiving word of his death while traveling in Guatemala. Adi, a reserve artillery officer, lost her partner, Yonnatan Savitsky, a fighter in the elite Egoz unit, in the battle for Kissufim on Oct. 7, 2023.
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Staff Sgt. Maxsim Entis and Staff Sgt. Gilad Harel
(Photo: Courtesy of the families)
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The Harels: mother Karen, siblings Gilad and Adi, and father Eitan
(Photo: Courtesy of the family)
“Giladi, my little and beloved brother, we are forever bound heart to heart,” 24-year-old Adi said in her farewell. “Was I destined for a life of bereavement and pain? When Yonnatan was killed, you did not want to talk to me about it so as not to hurt me. Only after at least a year did we talk about it a little, but I did not want it to hurt you the way it hurts me.”
Adi read aloud the final text messages she exchanged with her brother before he entered the fighting. “I wrote to him: Good luck, baby, don’t do anything stupid. I’m very proud of you. He wrote to me: Thanks, don’t worry. I answered him: Do you think I won’t worry? You’re the only one I worry about. He answered me: Don’t worry, I won’t do anything stupid.”
At the end of her eulogy, Adi saluted her brother. “I will salute you one last time,” she said.
“From a young age, you were a curious boy who constantly examined the world,” his father, Eitan, said. “You wanted to reach the best units and serve the country.”
His mother, Keren, said: “Beyond all your excellence, you were a sensitive person, a true friend. You grew from a boy into a man with quiet charisma. You left us with a hole in our hearts. We could not have received a greater gift than those 21 years. We love you for who you were and the path you chose.”
Harel's loved ones described him as an outstanding student who also excelled as a soldier assigned as a forward Negev machine gunner in Company B of the Nahal Reconnaissance Battalion.
Lt. Col. Yehiel Amoyal, speaking on behalf of the military, said: “Dear Gilad, with your captivating personality, it was important to you to be the best. You were simply a professional — a fighter, navigator and the best Negev gunner. Full of pride to go out and defend the country. Your teammates tell how loved and caring you were, alongside humility and quiet.”
The soldiers and commanders of the Nahal Reconnaissance Battalion continued fighting in Lebanon even as their comrade was laid to rest.
“Nahal Brigade forces are currently fighting in southern Lebanon, with the Nahal Reconnaissance Battalion leading the fighting deep in enemy territory, with determination and bravery,” Amoyal said at Harel’s funeral. “In these difficult moments, your friends, who are still continuing to fight, are unable to be with us today to accompany you and salute you.”