Captain Daniel Mimon Toaff, aged 23, who was killed on Tuesday when a building exploded in Rafah, was interviewed last March by Kan News and spoke about his good friend Lieutenant Yaron Chitiz, who fell in battle.
After Yaron fell in battle, his good friend Daniel replaced him as company commander in the Givati’s Shaked Battalion.
Daniel spoke about the fighting in Gaza: "From the first day that the IDF was there, we were there for the citizens. We are needed and we will do what is necessary until the end, we must win."
Daniel added: "The fighting is hard, exhausting. We have been there for almost five months, but the soldiers are in very high spirits. We are having fun whenever possible, hitting the enemy hard. It's going well. There are many successes, many terrorists have been destroyed and, above all, we're happy that the home front is starting to return to normal."
He spoke about the difficulty of replacing his best friend in the position of company commander: "It's not easy. Yaron was a good friend, we were in training together from the first month of our service, shoulder to shoulder. There is nothing we can do about it. We are losing friends. It is part of our sacrifice. We will continue on his path. He would like us to keep smiling and to win this war, and not to stop until there is no such thing called Hamas anymore."
In the incident in which Captain Daniel Mimon Toaff fell, three other soldiers were also killed:
- Staff Sergeant Agam Naim, aged 20, from Kibbutz Mishmarot in the north-central region, a Paramedic in the 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade.
- Staff Sergeant Amit Bakri, aged 20, from the religious Zionist Moshav Yoshivia in the Negev, a soldier in the “Shaked” Battalion, “Givati” Brigade.
- Staff Sergeant Dotan Shimon, aged 21, from the religious Zionist community Elazar in Gush Etzion, a soldier from the “Shaked” Battalion, “Givati” Brigade.
In the same incident, an officer and two soldiers from the “Shaked” Battalion, Givati Brigade, were severely injured and two soldiers from the “Shaked” Battalion, Givati Brigade, were moderately injured.
President Isaac Herzog paid tribute to the four fallen soldiers, "This is a very sad morning. Four flowers – a heroic paramedic and three brave fighters fell and their comrades were injured yesterday in the heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip. I hug their families and loved ones. May the memory of Staff Sergeant Agam Naim, Staff Sergeant Amit Bakri, Staff Sergeant Dotan Shimon and Captain Daniel Mimon Toaff be blessed. They will be in our hearts forever."