The yishuv of Eli in Binyamin announced on Motzei Shabbos that one of its residents, Amishar Ben-David, 43, H’yd, a commander in the Oz Commando Brigade, was killed on Friday in battle in the Gaza Strip.

Shortly later, the IDF announced the death, adding that another officer from the Oz Brigade was seriously injured. Amishar’s death raises the death toll of the ground war in Gaza to 248 and the death toll of IDF soldiers killed since October 7th to 588.

Amishar, z’l, a ba’al chessed who volunteered as the head of the MDA team in Eli, left behind a wife and six children as well as his parents and six siblings. He was a cousin of Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, who published a post on Motzei Shabbos, bemoaning the loss.

He was killed in a battle in Khan Younis as Shabbos began.

Amishar is the 18th talmid from Bnei Dovid, the mechina in Eli, to fall in battle in the Gaza Strip.

(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)