Boaz, a close friend of staff sergeant Hanan Drori, eulogized him by telling about his determination to become a combat soldier.
“Rest in peace. What a strange term, IDF casualties, when the real casualty is not to the IDF but to the friends and family.”
“And what a casualty he was. He had so much humor, concern, and love for everyone around him. Hanan, you were very dear to me,” he added, paraphrasing II Samuel 1:26.
“Hanan was not supposed to be in the IDF at all, but decided that he would be a combat soldier and moved heaven and earth to do so. Even so, he was originally assigned a non-combat role, but through various connections he was assigned combat service.”
“And reserve duty, at the beginning of the war, he told me how he was going crazy at home and could not believe that he had not found a reserve service spot.”
Hanan, 26, from Psagot, fought in the 551st Brigade. He left behind his parents, the brothers, and intended fiance.
He was declared dead this morning in Sheba Hospital after being seriously wounded two months ago in a battle in northern Gaza, after his wounds developed a fungal infection.
The family and hospital asked Pfizer to provide them with an experimental medication had to be brought from Ireland to Israel, called Fosmanogepix. With the help of Israelis who were in Ireland, the medication was brought to Israel, but did not stabilize his condition.
He was the third member of his town to be killed in action in this war. He will be laid to rest today at 3:00 p.m. in the Mt. Herzl military cemetery.
Binyamin governor Yisrael Ganz commented: “I knew Hanan as a dear neighbor. We have lost a friendly young man, handsome, with a sense of humor and a good heart. He was a learned and intelligent young man. We embrace the family and pray that he will advocate for us in heaven to continue the war until victory.”