The Samaria Regional Council announced on Thursday that Eitan Avner Ben-Yitzhak, from the town of Har Bracha, fell in battle in Gaza.
Eitan, aged 22, who served in the Egoz Unit and was a cadet in officers' training, was killed in an IED explosion.
He married his wife, Atara, three months ago.
Samaria Governor Yossi Dagan, a relative of Eitan, eulogized him: "Eitan grew up in a value-driven, Zionist family, a Torah scholar, a strong believer in settling the land, a frontline fighter, dedicated. Naturally, they established their home in Har Bracha. At their wedding, they held a special memorial for their fallen friends. Our hearts break for the youth, for the family that should have flourished here in Samaria, but now will not.
"Dear Atara, daughter of a longstanding Har Bracha family, who grew up here and brought him to Samaria, now we must accompany him on his final journey. All of us—the council and the settlement—will support the Ben-Yitzhak and Steinbach families in every way possible during this difficult hour. We will strengthen each other and never break; we are here to build the land and prevail."
The Har Bracha community stated: "We share in the grief of Atara, a resident who got married only about two months ago. We stand with Atara and the Steinbach family, a longstanding and rooted family in the community, who raise their eight children with dedication in the heart of Samaria."