'God bless them': Capt. Itai Ariel Giat killed in Lebanon combat

Capt. Itai Ariel Giat, a 23-year-old Yalam unit soldier of the Combat Engineering Corps, fell in Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon, the IDF announced.

Giat, from Shoham, was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain.

While not explicitly mentioning Giat by name, the father of a soldier wounded in the incident told British newspaper The Times that his son had been saved thanks to an officer next to him. The officer referenced in this incident was killed.

“My son was very lucky,” the father said. “The man next to him, who died, protected him.”

Grieving the fallen

The IDF said that the military shared Giat’s family’s grief.

Giat fell alongside Capt. Eitan Oster, Capt. Harel Etinger, St.-Sgt. Ido Broyer, Sgt.-Maj. Noam Barzilay, Sgt.-Maj. Or Mantzur, Sgt-Maj Nazar Itkin, and St.-Sgt. Almken Terefe. 

A message of condolence was also shared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said, “I would like to send my condolences from the bottom of my heart to the families of our heroes who fell today in Lebanon.

“God bless them. May their memory be a blessing."

“We are in the middle of a tough war against Iran's axis of evil, which seeks to destroy us. This will not happen - because we will stand together, and with God's help –  we will win together.” 

Netanyahu’s message concluded with a promise to return the hostages from Gaza, who Hamas abducted on October 7, and the residents of the North who were evacuated due to constant missile attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon.