Laufer, Akiva (Kuba)

Akiva, son of Sarah-Rivka and Aryeh-Leibel, was born in 1923 in Poland, in the town of Grotta, near Warsaw. After hardships, he reached the port of Haifa on July 1, 1946. In January 1949 Akiva participated in a battle in Rafah as part of Operation Horev. Operation “Horev” was conducted during the last stages of the war. It was intended to destroy the Egyptian army from the areas of Gaza, Auja and Assaluj (hence the “Ein” operation), to remove it from Israel and to force the Egyptians to start negotiations for a truce. The operation, commanded by Yigal Allon, his partner in the forces of several combat brigades, was brought down from areas where the campaign was quiet. The operation began on 22 December 1948 with the bombing of Egyptian army concentrations. Later, the main effort moved with two arms towards Auja al-Hafir (Nitzana). On December 5, 1949, forcing the Israeli fighters to withdraw during the sandstorm, and many of the fighters, including Akiva, were killed.