Dalia Navon, grandmother of Ittai Fogel who fell on Yom Kippur Eve in the Gaza Strip, and Elkana Navon who fell in Jenin 42 days ago, recounted the moment she heard the hard knock on the door - for the second time in weeks.
In an interview with Galei Tzahal, Dalia begins with a eulogy for her grandson Ittai, who fell on the Philadelphi Corridor: "We are shortly about to bury another grandson in the land of our country, a magical and perfect child, with beautiful eyes, smart, clever. He was very special, a good student, loved to play music. He spoke beautifully, grew up surrounded by family love and support".
She told about the special bond between the cousins. "They enlisted at the same time, March 23, Ittai's brother also enlisted, I had three children in the army. On October 7th everything turned and changed the army's plans."
She says: "All my grandchildren, especially Elkana and Ittai, were determined in their mission, they knew well where they were going. They knew exactly what they were doing."
She mentions Ittai's struggle to enter Gaza with a tank and adds that also “Elkana wanted so much to go inside Gaza because he wanted to find the hostages. "You’ll see grandma, everything will be fine, we’ll fight for our country and our people," he said. It gives me comfort and pride."
About the knock on the door on Yom Kippur Eve, she said: "I was preparing for Yom Kippur, I was at home. Eran, Ittai's brother, was at my house, so they had to inform him. In this war, they have told the grandparents as well."
She continues to describe the moment she received the hard news: "I was sitting at home and there was a knock at the door, that hard knock, I open, and they ask for Eran, and I tell them, are you taking him on an emergency call-up? What happened that you are taking him? They said 'we are not taking him', they tell me to sit down."
"I said, excuse me, why did you come," continues Dalia. "Then the cries of despair came out of me, I didn’t need any explanation, I understood everything. I had already heard the notification wording 42 days before."
Rabbi Aharon Cohen, the rabbi of the Yakir settlement, eulogized Fogel in an interview on Radio 103FM, saying: "I was fortunate to know Ittai from the moment of his birth. He was close friends with my son."
"He would come on Friday evenings for a meal. He was a gifted, brilliant guy, loved music, was a leading counselor here, a true friend to his friends."
"It's a huge pain. When I heard it was from the Fogel family, it tore my heart", he said and referred to Ittai's cousin, Elkana, who fell a few weeks ago in an operation in Jenin: "The gap between him and Elkana is forty days. An immense price of bereavement that unfortunately the people of Israel have been paying this past year. Thank God, the family is strong and full of faith."