Tehila Van Gelder, the mother of Staff Sergeant Omer Van Gelder, shared her profound sorrow Wednesday morning following her son's death in a roadside bomb explosion in Jabalya.
“I still haven’t come to terms with it,” she told Kan Reshet Bet. “Omer was always on 21- or 28-day duties, so I was used to long weeks of missing him and his absence from home. Right now, it still feels like he’s just away on another army stint.”
“I haven’t yet absorbed the fact that he’s not really coming back,” she added. “It feels like I’m in a surreal reality. I haven’t fully grasped it yet.”
Omer enlisted in August 2023, just two months before the outbreak of the Swords of Iron War. “In October, their training and basic training were significantly shortened, and they were immediately sent into combat — just four months after the war began. Since then, he served in every possible sector — in the North, in Judea and Samaria, but mainly in Gaza.”
“He always shared everything with us,” said Tehila. “We’re a home where everything is discussed openly. Nothing was hidden or sugar-coated. When I was worried, I said it outright. Some things he could reassure us about, and others were simply beyond our control.”
Tehila described her son’s ever-present smile, visible in every photograph. “It wasn’t because of a flattering camera angle — he was just someone who always smiled. That was his face. He lit up the room, always smiling, positive, and trying to find the good in every situation, even the complicated ones. He strived for excellence — a trait common among gifted individuals, that 'perfectionism.'”
“He planned to become an ER physician,” she revealed. “He had already looked into the best programs to specialize. With his Dutch citizenship, he considered various options abroad. He and his girlfriend had plans — where they would live, what they would do. He was offered officer training but said, ‘Guys, I’ve got seven years of studies ahead. I’ll come back as an officer — a medical officer — not through the usual training track.’”
Tehila added: “He knew exactly what he wanted to do. He was accepted into prestigious IDF programs, including Talpiot, and could have gone elsewhere in the military — but he declined. He said, ‘I’m going to be a doctor. That’s my mission in life.’ And he wanted to fulfill it.”
Just two days before the deadly incident in Jabalya, Omer had leave from the army. “He went to his platoon commander’s wedding. It was important for him to stop by and give me a letter and a gift he and his siblings had prepared for me. My birthday was yesterday — he wrote me a letter. But yesterday, I received a different kind of gift.”
She concluded: “I wish we could all be a little like Omer — to smile more, to see the good, to do good, to strive for excellence, to aim to do things better, to become a more righteous society, to speak kindly, to think positively. We have the most incredible country in the world, and the most incredible people — by far. I truly believe that.”