Sgt. First Class Amit Peled, 21, a soldier in the elite Egoz commando unit from Haifa, was killed battling Hamas terrorists at the Kissufim army post on October 7.
He is survived by his parents, Dania and Omer, and his sister Gaia. His grandfather, Maj. Gen. Amir Drori, who died in 2005, was a deputy IDF chief of staff and decorated general who later served as the founder and first director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Amit was buried on October 11 in Haifa.
Peled and his fellow soldiers were stationed in Huwara in the West Bank that morning following a terror shooting there two days earlier. With the launch of the Hamas attack that Saturday, the soldiers headed back to Kissufim to attempt to stave off the invasion.
Peled was slain alongside Sgt. First Class Yonnatan Savitsky and Sgt. First Class Elad Sasson during the hours-long battle to retake the Kissufim post from Hamas terrorists.
Cpt. A told Israel Hayom that the fighters killed dozens of terrorists inside the base, going area by area and clearing them out, but Peled was shot dead by an ambush from an area they believed they had already cleared.
Roey Peleg, the director of his pre-army program, described Peled on Facebook as “a cut above — a leader, sociable, modest, smiley, serious, invested, responsible, and always ready for any challenge!”
Army Radio said that Peled particularly loved music of all kinds, “from classic rock to Indie to heavy metal,” and that during vacations from the army, he would play electric guitar and drums.
His sister, Gaia, told Ynet that when he was on his way to the front line, “he even wrote to us to say that we should take care of ourselves and get the reinforced room ready in case anything should happen in the north.”
“Amit wanted to be a combat soldier,” she added. “He was accepted to Egoz, and understood the importance of service and giving back to the military and the country.”
She said he was slated to be released from his mandatory service around six months after he was killed and had planned a big trip around the world: “He really loved traveling, even when he came home on weekends he would travel around Israel, and he dreamed of continuing to travel around the world. Sadly, his dream won’t come true anymore.”
