An Israeli soldier who died 417 days after his Oct. 7 wounds has become a symbol of sacrifice
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For more than 400 days after being critically wounded during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, Yona Brief tried to recover. But after losing both legs and enduring medically induced comas, the combat medic died in late November. The dual Israeli-American citizen has come to symbolize the sacrifice by hundreds of fallen soldiers in what many in Israel see as a war for the country’s survival.
“He became a symbol of ‘Don’t quit,’” said his mother, Hazel. His father, David, compared him to the oil that lit the candelabra in the Hannukah story, miraculously burning longer than expected, according to Jewish tradition. More than 800 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Hamas’ attack, about 300 of them on the initial day and the rest in Gaza or in the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Thousands of others have been wounded, many of them seriously. The war in Gaza has killed nearly 45,000 Palestinians, while over 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to local health officials.
Serving in Israel’s military is compulsory for most Jews. Soldiers’ service is revered, and Israelis see their sacrifice as deeply moving. Public opinion in previous wars has often been swayed by high soldier casualties. Months before Brief was called into action on Oct. 7, he had been seriously wounded, also in his legs, by a pipe bomb during a commando raid while serving in the occupied West Bank.
The weekend of Oct. 7 was his first on duty after his recovery. As militants attacked from Gaza, he and his seven-soldier commando unit raced to join the Israeli army’s house-by-house war in the communal farming villages, military bases and towns along the border.
