Ben Ari, Hagai

Ben Channah and Yonathan. Hagai was born in the Golan Heights, in Moshav Keshet, on the 18th of Tevet 5785 (18.1.1985). A fifth child of his parents, and brother of Reut, Noam, Omer, Yuval, Yiftach, Nadav, and Avner. In an evaluation letter given to Hagai for his performance in “Tzuk Eitan”, the brigade commander, Col. Toledano, wrote: “In order to enable the handling of the tunnel that was found earlier, Hagai led the patrol to raid a nearby area suspected of being an enemy compound. During the course of the attack, Hagai was hit by a bullet in the head and was evacuated by his comrades. The fighters continued fighting until all the terrorists were liquidated. Hagai demonstrated a personal example and courage when he commanded the front and strove for contact during the fighting until he was wounded. “He was taken by helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva unconscious and remained in this condition until his death two and a half years later. A year after the injury, when it became clear that Hagai’s chances of rehabilitating him were no longer valid, the family returned him to his home in Nov, to a special house built for him by the Defense Ministry in the yard of his parents’ home . Hagai was treated in a way that met his special needs, wrapped in the love of his family and many friends who came to visit him and took part in routine life at home until his death. Hagai passed away on 3 January 2017, two and a half years after he was wounded, three weeks before he was thirty-two years old, and was brought to eternal rest in the cemetery in Heispin, leaving a wife, two sons and a daughter, parents and six brothers.