She pokes at the sand with her fingers, but doesn’t have the strength to catch it with her hand. Beneath lies the man she planned to share her life with. It’s hard to let go. – Every night I hug the picture of him, Hadar Levenstein (25) tells news. Hadar Levenstein (25) only managed to be married for a little over two months. Now the husband is buried. Photo: GUNNAR BRATTHAMMER / news Ten days ago she received the heavy message, barely two days after she received a video message from him, inside the Gaza Strip. – It really calmed me down to finally get that message. – It was that I actually saw him and not an SMS he sent me, which told me that he was ok. The man left “within five minutes” when the violence started on 7 October. Now he is buried Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news Infantry sergeant Yonadav Levenstein (23) was a sergeant in the Givati brigade, one of five infantry brigades in the Israeli defense. Family and friends gathered to celebrate the marriage in September. Now they are gathered to remember Yonadav. Photo: GUNNAR BRATTHAMMER / news Now he is one of 366 soldiers who the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) says have been killed since 7 October, and one of the almost 50 who are said to have been killed inside Gaza since Israel went to war. A large majority of Israelis believe the country’s response to Hamas’ terrorist attack on October 7 is fair, the AP news agency wrote last week. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is receiving fierce criticism from all sides because the attack came as a surprise. Israel has also been criticized by both aid organizations and several countries for violations of international law. Several carry weapons during the memorial service. Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news The families of several Hamas hostages have also expressed their concerns about how the Israeli bombing of Gaza affects those they miss. Said nothing about the war From October 7, Yonadav fought against Hamas terrorists in the south of Israel. – Within five minutes, literally, he left to fight in the south. In the kibbutzim that were invaded by terrorists, says Hadar. The family knows little about what the sergeant did on the battlefield. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) also released this photo of Yonadav after his death. Photo: IDF They kept in touch, but he did not want to tell her about what he had experienced. Yonadav was among the IDF soldiers who came to the Supernova festival after the Hamas attack. Levenstein believes he would spare her the horrific scenes that met him and the other soldiers in the kibbutz and at the festival grounds. – It was a happy and fun wedding, says Hadar Levenstein. Photo: GUNNAR BRATTHAMMER / news Around 1,200 people were killed, and many in a bestial manner. According to the AP news agency, Hamas is still holding around 240 people hostage. Since the outbreak of war, the newlyweds had only seen each other once, when Yonadav was on a short leave at the end of October. – I insisted on driving him back to the base afterwards. An hour later I couldn’t get hold of him anymore, and I understood that they had probably entered Gaza, she says. The first part of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza began on 27 October. This photo is claimed by the Israeli Defense Forces to show its soldiers inside the Gaza Strip, but has not been independently verified. Photo: ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES / Reuters On Tuesday, the Israeli authorities say they have control over the parliament in Gaza City and several other public institutions, according to AFP. In just over a month, more than 11,200 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, says the Hamas-run Ministry of Health. The death tolls from here are regularly reproduced by the UN. In Khan Younsi, south of the Gaza Strip, two men carry the body of a person killed in an Israeli bomb attack on 14 November. Photo: Mahmud HAMS / AFP / NTB The numbers on both sides are in any case much higher than during previous escalations in Gaza in the 2000s. In 2008 and 2009, respectively, 1,965 Palestinians and 44 Israelis were killed. In 2014, there were 2,329 Palestinians and 88 Israelis, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The Israeli “Viking” They got married on 7 September. – It was a happy and fun wedding. He told me again and again how beautiful I was and was so happy, says Hadar. Yonadav was known as “The Viking” with his 1’91 on the plinth and the red beard. Yonadav Levenstein (23) and Hadar Levenstein (25) on the day they became husband and wife. Photo: Privat The 25-year-old widower says he loved life. He enjoyed the simple things, like just sitting with friends and talking. – He was big with a slightly intimidating appearance, but had such a tender and kind heart. They met three years ago. He was two years younger than her and had to fight to arouse her interest. This autumn he was to graduate from the security service, and they planned to travel the world. Hadar will not leave her husband’s grave. Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news – It is very difficult to deal with. It is difficult to get up in the morning and it is difficult to fall asleep at night, she says. – This is not the life I had planned. We had plans to live together, build a house together and have children. – How are you, my dear? At the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, there is a tight gap between memorial services and funerals now. The memorial service is held after a week of mourning (Shiva). They have been allotted time from 9 o’clock. Yonadav was buried on November 5. Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news The bones will not shine when it is time to leave the grave to make room for other funerals and memorial services. Finally, friends manage to support her to the car. Levenstein himself does not want to talk about the war. She does not blame anyone for her husband’s death. – I just want security to return. That there are no more wars and no more deaths. This autumn, the newly married couple were supposed to travel the world together, but it didn’t turn out that way. Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news They were to become a family. Now she only has Yonadav’s safe video message from 1 November: – How are you, my dear? I hope all is well. Everything is going well here. You can take it easy. I love you.
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