Captain Yogev Pazy
Captain Yogev PazyIDF Spokesman

Captain Yogev Pazy, who fell in battle on Sunday in the northern Gaza Strip, is the nephew of former IDF Chief of Staff, MK Gadi Eisenkot.

Eisenkot lost his son, Master sergeant (res.) Gal Eisenkot, and another nephew, Sergeant Maor Cohen Eisenkot, in the Gaza war.

MK Benny Gantz, chairman of the National Unity party, said: "Our hearts ache for two heroes who fell today in Gaza. Our beloved Chanah, Gadi and the Pazy family, our hearts are breaking with you during these difficult times."

Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: "We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of Israel's heroes Noam Eitan and Yogev Pazy who fell in the defense of our homeland. The entire nation of Israel salutes you. Gadi Eisenkot lost a son, a nephew and now another nephew in this war. A family of heroes. I want to send a strong hug and I bow my head in face of this disaster. May their souls be bound in eternal life."

Pazy, 22, from Giv'ot Bar, served as a platoon commander in the Nachshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade. He fell in a battle with terrorists near a building in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. Staff Sergeant Noam Eitan, 21, from Hadera, a soldier in the same battalion, also fell in the battle. Another soldier was seriously wounded.

After his cousin, Gal Eisenkot, was killed in battle in Jabalya – Pazy tattooed a childhood photograph of the two of them on his arm.

Gal Eisenkot was killed in December from a powerful explosion in a Gazan shaft. He served as a medic and infantry fighter in the 699th Battalion, in the 551st Reserve Brigade. His father was then a government minister.

Maor Cohen Eisenkot, 19, nephew of MK Eisenkot, his sister’s son, fell when an IED exploded in a mosque in the Gaza Strip, a day after Gal fell. He was laid to rest in the military section of the cemetery in Eilat.

In August, Pazy wrote on Facebook in memory of his cousin Gal: "Even though to your siblings and parents, you are the youngest son, you will always remain my older brother. Love you my cousin."