Gregory, the brother of Sergeant Ronen Shapiro, a soldier in the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion, who was one of the seven soldiers who were killed in the "Puma" APC incident in Khan Yunis, recounts to Arutz Sheva the moment his family received the tragic news.
"I live in Rehovot, and the representatives who came from the army arrived at my parents' home in Moshav Matzok. My mom was terrified of that knock on the door every night. Every little knock would make her anxious. Mom opened the door and started screaming in pain. She said to my dad, 'They've come, they've arrived.' After the army representatives left, my mom and sister came to me and informed me of the news, and I went back with them. At first, nothing was certain. We knew it was a very serious incident, and we prayed that somehow he made it out alive. After a period that felt like forever, we were told he was killed," Gregory recalls with pain.
Regarding his brother's character, he says, "Ronen was always mature. He went for a gap year and was in great physical condition. We saw how strong he was and how much he wanted to be a soldier; it was burning inside him. I always felt that he aspired for more, wanting to give even more of himself. He taught me many things. He wanted to be the most combat-ready and prepared for the army. He would get up early in the morning, crawl through the sand dunes, all with a big smile. He loved giving and encouraging, and even when it was hard for him, he always smiled."
Ronen preferred not to worry his family and told them as little as possible about his military service. "He didn't want to cause stress, he didn't want to scare anyone, especially knowing that it would be difficult for Mom to hear such things. He kept to himself what happened and hardly spoke about it."
"Because he was a very shy and humble person who didn't share many of the things he did, we want to hear more about him from the people who come to console us, from his friends who knew him and were with him. It fills our hearts, and we learn and understand even more how special our Ronen was," Gregory says.