About three and a half years after the operation that became entangled in Khan Yunis, the IDF today allows the publication that the person killed in the operation, Lt. Col. M., is the late Lt. Col. Mahmoud Khir a-Din from the northern village of Hurfish. The 41-year-old was in his fall.
Since the operation, the IDF has banned the publication of his name for security reasons, and today, after a discussion held by the head of the intelligence department, Major General Aharon Haliva, with representatives of military censorship, and with the consent of his family, it was decided to publish his name and photo.
Mahmoud Khir a-Din, a hero of Israel, was born on December 28, 1977, in the village of Hurfish in the Upper Galilee, the eldest son of his parents Ahmad and a nun, and had seven brothers and sisters.
He is a member of the Druze community.
He was married to Nahad and the father of two sons.
He served as an officer, fighter and commander in the special operations unit in the Intelligence Division.
The funeral of Mahmoud Khir a-Din,
Throughout his life, Khir a-Din was a social leader, and the environment looked up to him.
Until ninth grade, he studied at the school in the village of Hurfish, and then moved to the military boarding school at the Haifa Real School.
In October 1997 he enlisted in the Paratroopers Regiment, and in 2000 graduated from the officers' school.
In 2002, he was located by the Armed Forces' special operations unit and moved to serve in it.
During his service, he completed a bachelor's degree in law from the College of Management and a master's degree in education and business administration from the University of Haifa.
In 2002 he met his wife, Nahad, and in 2004 they married.
Their first son was born in 2009, a year during which he and his friends founded an association that works to promote the status of the Druze community in Israel.
In 2010, he joined the "After Me" organization and began mentoring a group in the village of Hurfish, after arranging for the association to start operating in the Druze villages to encourage the youth to enlist.
In 2013 our second son was born.
The head of the Armed Forces, Major General Aharon Haliva, explained the reasons for the decision to reveal his name:
We finished work and came to the conclusion that there is no security impediment to publishing his name and photo.
It also belongs to him, his family and his children, "he noted.
"Extraordinary educator and leader"
"Thanks to many promotions, he is no less than a hero in my eyes," said General Haliva.
"He has a significant contribution, which has courage and composure, to the State of Israel. He deserves to get the place that suits him."
And he added: "I did not know him personally, but he was an educator, an educator and an exceptional leader - not only on the operational side, but also in my values."
Maj. Gen. Haliva noted that he would later consider whether to publish the picture of another hero, Lt. Col. Emanuel Moreno of the General Staff patrol, who fell during the Second Lebanon War, and his picture was not allowed to be published.
The operation in Khan Yunis took place on November 11, 2018. The operation was the culmination of long months of meticulous preparations in which classified units and the entire intelligence community took part.
The command squad of the operation included the then Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Gadi Izenkot, the then head of the Armed Forces, Maj. Gen. Tamir Heiman and the then head of the Shin Bet, Nadav Argaman.
Hamas video on the operation of the force,
The purpose of the operation has not yet been released, and the IDF stressed that it was an invaluable operation.
According to reports, on the day of the incident, the force was traveling in two vehicles.
The fighters were arrested at a checkpoint deployed by Hamas members, and something in their behavior aroused the suspicion of Hamas operatives.
Activists surrounded the vehicle and began questioning its occupants.
The interrogation in the field lasted about 45 minutes, during which it became increasingly aggressive.
When the force realized that it was in a problematic situation, Lt. Col. Khir a-Din managed to distract Hamas members, and within a split second, the force commander, Lt. Col. A., managed to open fire.
Three Hamas members were killed by the fire, and unfortunately also Lt. Col. Khir a-Din.
Ten months after the tragic incident, the Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Aviv Kochavi, decided to accept the recommendation of the SLA Committee and award the Chief of Staff's SLA to three of the fighters in the incident in the depths of the Strip - including the late Lt. Col. Khir a-Din The commander of the fighting force and another fighter in the team also received a Zelash.
The army statement said at the time that Lt. Col. M. received the SLA for "his activity in the operation with his team, in enemy territory, with determination, composure and courage, to protect his comrades." To promote the takeover. "
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