First sergeant Agam Naim, a paramedic in the 52nd Battalion who fell in the battle in the Gaza Strip with three other fighters, is the first female soldier to fall during the ground maneuver.
Agam's mother posted on Facebook about two months ago that she was feeling a "loss of control, anxiety attacks that came over her without warning."
She added: "Agam was accepted to the paramedics course. We were so happy for her. Maybe she would become a doctor. She finished the course with honors and two days later she was already in Gaza with the engineering corps. We stopped breathing, sleeping, our lives changed. Suddenly I experienced anxiety attacks that came without warning. At home it was easy, but one day it happened at the kindergarten I work in. Agami phoned and said that she was going in [to Gaza]. I wasn't ready for that. She was supposed to go in only a few days later."
Agam’s mother added that "slowly, slowly, as if adapting to the new situation, I told myself, ‘Engineering is fine. They come to clear explosion areas after they have been cleared of terrorists.’ I heard the news, an anti-tank missile was fired at a Namer armoured personnel carrier. Eight soldiers of the engineering corps were killed. Agami was at home that day, but these were her company mates. She suffered great pain, fear."
One day I got a call, ‘have you heard from Agam? No, why?’ They announced on the news that a paramedic had been injured. Again I was at work. I stopped breathing again. I saw black. I tried to find out. Another phone call, the soldier had been injured in Jenin. I could not calm down! We didn't know where she was then and later we found out that she was with the Givati Brigade."
In conclusion, she wrote: "Just this week, she treated the wounded, some of them in serious condition. We are surviving without sleep, without breathing. What kind of child will I have at the end of the war? I hope that my daughter will return home healthy, both in body and soul. May the war end and we return to normal, Amen. My Agami, I am proud of you, my little girl. I am waiting for you, my love.”
The Menashe Regional Council shared in the family's grief: "We are grieving the loss of First sergeant Agam Naim from Kibbutz Mishmarot, who was killed yesterday in battle in the southern Gaza Strip. 20-year-old Agam, was daughter of Dorit and Dudi Naim, sister to Peleg and Yuval.
The paramedics organization also paid tribute to Agam: "Agam, one of the pioneers serving as paramedic in a combat role, stood at the forefront of the battle in Gaza. She served in a role that required a unique combination of courage, dedication and endless professionalism. Agam was there to fight for the lives of her fellow members of the unit, bearing the enormous responsibility of caring for, and saving, lives under extremely difficult field conditions.”