Staff Sergeant Li Mat
Staff Sgt. Li Mat was a combat soldier in the Paratrooper Brigade. He died in Gaza on Tuesday, July 22 after entering a booby-trapped house in Khan Yunis. Nearby gunmen detonated an explosive device and then opened fire on the soldiers. Three soldiers were killed in the attack. “He was a wild and crazy kid with big dimples. Smart and witty, always surrounded by friends,” said a family friend. Mat, from Eilat, is survived by his parents and three siblings. His brother Gal was badly injured during his military service in a terrorist attack on Route 12 in 2011. He was 19 years old.