The invitations had been sent, the venue was booked and the wedding dress was hanging in the closet, waiting for the big day. But two days before the ceremony, none of the guests knew whether the wedding of Shaked Shilyan, 26, and Ori Dimant, 24, would take place at all. In fact, the couple themselves were unsure whether they would be able to marry on their planned date in February.
At the time, as Israel faced Iranian missile attacks during Operation Roaring Lion, Home Front Command restrictions dictated the rules: a sharply limited number of guests, a narrow time window and, above all, the uncertainty that has become a constant feature of life here over the past three years.
Shaked and Ori's wedding in the middle of Operation "Roaring Lion"
But Shaked and Ori refused to give up. After everything they had endured over the previous year and a half, the wedding — which ultimately went ahead as planned despite air raid sirens and missile fire — was more than a celebration. It was a victory.
"Just over a year ago, I was lying inside a tank and didn't know if I would make it out alive," Shaked said. "Today I'm married to the woman I love, working at a job I love and surrounded by my family and my brothers from the brigade."
'A minute earlier we were playing categories'
The road from a tank in the heart of Gaza to the wedding canopy was neither short nor easy.
Shaked grew up in Hadera, the seventh of eight siblings. Seven of them served in combat roles. In the Shilyan family, he said, enlisting in a combat unit wasn't a tradition — it was simply the default.
During the war, he served as a loader and radio operator in the 53rd Battalion of the 188th Armored Brigade. That changed in Shijaiyah, when the tank carrying him and his crew came under a combined attack involving an explosive device and rocket-propelled grenades. Shaked suffered severe leg injuries, while the tank commander and gunner were also wounded.
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The road from a tank in the heart of Gaza to the wedding canopy was neither short nor easy
(Photo: Courtesy)
"Shortly before we were attacked, we were playing Categories inside the tank because we were so bored," he recalled with the smile that has become his trademark, one that rarely leaves his face even in moments when most people would stop smiling.
"The game actually continued even while I was shouting that I'd been wounded in my left leg. I remember one of the guys asking me to name a city starting with the Hebrew letter het, and I couldn't answer him — even though I'm from Hadera."
Despite being under fire and seriously wounded himself, Shaked continued helping treat his injured comrades and remained fully conscious until the crew was rescued from the tank. Within an hour, he was airlifted to Rabin Medical Center and later transferred to Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital for a long recovery.
"Overnight, I went from being a soldier who could do everything to someone who needed full-time care," he said. "It's an incredibly difficult transition. I was used to being the fighter, the one who always charged in first. Suddenly I'd lost my independence and needed help with almost every basic task."
Shaked suffered severe leg injuries
(Photo: Courtesy)
When news of his injuries reached his family, it came as another devastating blow. Only a few years earlier, they had lost their mother after a long illness.
"It happened on Friday evening, and everyone was in complete shock," he recalled.
Yet from that painful period came one of the greatest gifts of his recovery. For an entire month, his father — whom he affectionately calls "the prince" — slept beside him at the hospital.
"When you're injured, especially at the beginning, you're full of anger and frustration. Suddenly you can't do basic things anymore and need help with everything, and a lot of that anger comes out at the people closest to you," he said.
"My father accepted it completely. He never broke. He bathed me, dressed me and took care of everything I needed. I hadn't experienced that kind of emotional closeness with him since I was a child."
Shaked lost his mother four years before he was wounded. If his father gave him stability, he says his mother gave him what sustains him from within.
Shaked lost his mother four years before he was wounded. His parents on their wedding day
(Photo: Courtesy)
"My smile and my ability to get back up and never give up when things are hard came from her. It's completely genetic," he said emotionally.
"I'm sure that if she were alive, it would have been incredibly difficult for her to hear I'd been wounded. As a mother, she would have worried endlessly, but she also would have encouraged me and pushed me forward. I feel that I carry her with me every day."
'Ori reminded me there was still a world outside'
The support he received from his family wasn't the only thing that kept him going.
There was also Ori, a computer science student from the moshav of Gimzo near Ben Shemen Forest. She entered Shaked's life through family connections: Their siblings are married to each other and introduced them.
Their first relationship ended after a short time, not long before Shaked was wounded.
'We realized our feelings were genuine and mutual'
(Photo: Courtesy)
When news of his injuries broke, Ori wanted to come to the hospital immediately and support him through rehabilitation. But Shaked asked her to wait.
"I didn't want her to see me like that," he explained. "For me, it just wasn't the right time."
Ori respected his request. She waited quietly until he let her know he was ready to see her again.
"The fact that she didn't pressure me, respected what I asked, didn't get angry and didn't make me feel guilty — that alone showed me who she is and how incredible she is," he said.
As his physical and emotional condition stabilized, they resumed daily contact, and Ori became a regular visitor to the rehabilitation ward at Beit Levinstein.
Shaked during rehabilitation
(Photo: Courtesy)
"During that time, we realized our feelings were genuine and mutual — and, most importantly, that they weren't just a result of the circumstances," he said.
"Ori was the only stable thing in my life amid all the chaos. When everything around you is rehabilitation rooms, exercises and pain, she reminded me there was still a world outside — and that it contained a lot of good. I'm certain my recovery was faster because of her."
A wedding in wartime
Two years after he was wounded, Shaked proposed. He carefully chose the location: the moshav where Ori's family lives, the same place where they had first broken up.
"For me, it closed the circle," he said.
Ori immediately said yes.
But once they began planning the wedding, they discovered that organizing it would be another challenge. Operation Rising Lion began in the middle of their preparations, and from that moment, no plan remained certain.
'Every week something else went wrong'. Ori and Shaked's wedding
(Photo: Courtesy)
"Every week something else went wrong, and nothing was guaranteed," Ori said. "Eventually we stopped planning and started improvising, knowing there was a very real chance the wedding would have to be postponed indefinitely."
Help arrived from an unexpected source: the Barak Association of the 188th Brigade, which has supported the brigade's commanders, soldiers and veterans since 1998, long after they leave military service.
When members of the association heard Shaked and Ori's story, they immediately stepped in, taking charge of organizing the event and arranging the singer, catering, tables and chairs.
"When we realized they were trying to hold a wedding during a military operation and under Home Front Command restrictions, it was obvious we had to step in," said Roy Shaposhnik, chairman of the association. "Shaked is part of the 188th family, and in a family, no one is left to face things alone."
"They didn't ask many questions," Shaked said. "They simply asked, 'What do you need?' — and they made it happen. It's another reminder that in the 188th Brigade, you're family long after your military service ends."
'Shaked is part of the 188th family, and in a family, no one is left to face things alone'
(Photo: Courtesy)
Around the wedding canopy stood fellow soldiers, some of whom had seen Shaked after he was wounded, when he could not even stand on his own. Now they watched him standing tall beside the woman he loves.
Looking ahead
Shaked's story did not end at the wedding canopy.
The lessons he learned about falling and getting back up are now something he passes on to others.
Before he was wounded, he had begun studying education but was forced to interrupt his studies. After rehabilitation, he returned to school. Today he teaches seventh- and eighth-grade students and works with at-risk youth.
"It wasn't my original dream," he said. "But I discovered I have a real connection with these teenagers and with education in general.
"The fact that these young people see someone who has gone through a major crisis and still chose to keep moving forward gives them strength. When they have someone who believes in them and stands behind them, they're capable of going much further than they think."
His rehabilitation is still ongoing, but he does not see it as the end of his journey as a fighter.
"I still have more to give this country," he said. "But first, I'll keep getting stronger and keep recovering."