The last letter Padilla Mark sent to his family, when he did not attend his cousin's funeral. The last photo uploaded to Instagram by Lavi Lifshitz, the gifted photographer. The last message Roy Dawi wrote on WhatsApp to himself, God forbid. The last hug at the door. The last group photo.
"We will continue your mission to erase this evil from the world": the funeral of Padya Mark on Mount of Rest //Photo: Yoni Rikner
All of them suddenly take on a different meaning and become a testament of life. These are the last signs left by the first - the first to report to the battle with devotion. 16 heroes, full of unknown, beautiful, young and dreaming Ziv, fell in Gaza in the war of no choice that was forced upon us.
In recent weeks, we have heard hundreds of stories of heroes caught in the fire who paid with their lives to save others. But the heroism of the fighters in the hell of Gaza is particularly intense. They didn't happen to be caught up in the incident. They did not enter the battle without knowing what awaited them. They went into the fire knowing full well that the inferno would claim victims. Each of them said without hesitation: "I am."
Behind the first to come forward are heroic families. Parents who, like Abraham, were called upon to sacrifice their son, but did not reach out to eat them. Behind the heroes stands a mobilized, supportive and determined community. Behind the lions stands an entire people. A people that understands that it is terrible to lose soldiers in battle, but even worse – that babies and the elderly are being slaughtered in their beds. It is this terrible lesson, which we horribly learned on October 7, that gives our fighters fortitude. And with this spirit we will win.
Love has not been cut off
Each of the fallen is a whole world, but I personally knew only the commander of the force, Padya Mark, whose tragic life story embodies the same spirit. I interviewed him when he was 15, when he survived an attack in which his father was murdered. I met an introverted boy on whom the sky had fallen. The boy who most cruelly experienced the helplessness of innocence in the face of evil grew into a warrior man.
First Lieutenant Fadia Mark, killed in battle in the Gaza Strip, photo: uncredited
In an interview with Maariv a year ago, he explained it in simple terms: "We were always educated to go to combat service in the IDF, but after the murderous attack I felt I understood how important it was." Padilla fought so that there would never be children like him again. And as his sister Shira said about him - despite the suffering he went through, he fought from love, not hate.
The tenderness, compassion and love that radiate from the fighters we have lost stand in stark contrast to the cruelty of our enemies. They are motivated by hateful fire, as indicated by an interrogation by the Shin Bet, in which the murderers tell with amused coolness how they shot and killed the toddlers.
Our pure soldiers are driven by immense love that is not cut short by their deaths. We will collect the last signs left by the first ones and build a life from them.
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