The IDF Spokesperson's Office confirmed Tuesday morning that Sergeant Roi Tal, 19, from Kfar Yehoshua, a soldier in the 94th Battalion, Kfir Brigade, fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip. His funeral will take place today (Tuesday), at 14:00 at the cemetery in Kfar Yehoshua.
Tal is survived by his siblings and parents, Ami and Smadar. The Jezreel Valley Council eulogized Tal: "The head of the Jezreel Valley Regional Council, its residents and employees are shocked, mourning and pained by the loss of Sergeant Roy Tal, 19, from Kfar Yehoshua, a soldier in the 94th Battalion, Kfir Brigade, who fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip. We embrace and strengthen the dear Tal family and the entire Kfar Yehoshua community at this difficult time and share in its deep sorrow."
Tal served as a combat medic. He fought non-stop in the Gaza Strip and has not gone home for the past three months.
"I went into the house to tell my wife the worst."
His father Ami said, "Roy was a lovely boy. Always overwhelmed with friends. Be willing to do anything for your friends. He insisted and wanted to be a fighter in meaningful service. It was his choice. Never complained. He wasn't home for 15 Saturdays. And in total did not come out in 15 weeks. He told us that with the war he was getting along but that it was hard for him not to be at home. A month ago, we met him at the crossing from Sagaiya to Khan Yunis. They went out to freshen up in a holiday village and we came to visit. They fought all the time, and were without phones or communication. I can't say that we slept soundly, you were worried all the time and we understand that a war of no choice was forced upon us. He tried to calm us down and said he was on a strip but in the back. But we understood that he was striving for contact. He was a combat medic. Everyone loved him."
The bitter news caught the family in their home, "Yesterday at seven o'clock in the evening, I was at the entrance to the house to go on a march. And I saw three soldiers in front of me. They asked me if I was with me, and I immediately understood that something very bad had happened. I went into the house to tell my wife the worst. We are a family with five children. Two older sisters who were recruited, one an interceptor in the Iron Dome battalion, the other in the Nahal battalion, and two 12-year-old twin younger brothers. A farming family."
"Quiet and introverted, he was just a good boy"
Roni Cohen, Roi's teacher at WIZO Nahalal High School: "I don't get a chick child. He was a quiet and introverted child. And kindness. He wanted to be combat. And I'm the most proud of him in the world."
"I was his teacher in high school. From a family of farmers. On his birthday I sent him a congratulations message. And that I hope he is satisfied and he wrote to me that soon a beret journey. He loved playing computer games. They were the Krona students and he had to be woken up in the morning to zoom in to get into math. He was just a good kid from a family of grassroots farmers."
"Roy is charming, so talented," read the comments on the council's post. "My heart burns with sorrow! A huge hug to parents and siblings. May his memory be blessed." "How much pain and sorrow," wrote another, "the head refuses to believe and the heart is broken to pieces. A beautiful, kind-hearted boy, just unimaginable."
Commenters on his mother's Facebook page, Smadar Tal, wrote to her in the comments: "Smadar and my beloved people. In difficult news, the heart is struggling to contain the immense pain. Sharing your grief; A child who is all heart. Not caught."
Another commenter wrote to the grieving parents: "To Smadar and Ami Tal and the entire extended Tal family in Moshav Kfar Yehoshua and beyond, a difficult evening, difficult news. Dear Smadar and Ami and your entire extended family and grandmother Bilha Tal, who will stand apart for a long life, difficult news, you have been informed by your family and the entire Moshav of Kfar Yehoshua in the Jezreel Valley has been informed of the fall between your beloved and your grandson and brother Roy Tal, z"l, who fell on his watch as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces."
Elad Birnbaum, whose son is a childhood friend who grew up with Roi, has known Roy since childhood. The two friends went on to become combat medics and combat medics following each other. "An amazing boy who helped raise his twin brothers. I taught him driving and he was an excellent off-road driver. And all he had was prior knowledge from childhood. He volunteered in MDA. An amazing boy."
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