Two IDF soldiers killed in Operation Pillar of Defense

Cpl. Yosef Nachman Fartuk

Yosef Nachman Fartuk, 18, a private in the Israel Defense Force (IDF) was killed on Tuesday, Nov. 20 by a mortar shell while guarding a community in the Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel. He was among six soldiers stationed on the Israel-Gaza border injured in the attack. Following his death, Fartuk was promoted to the rank of corporal.
Earlier in the day Eliyan Salem el-Nabari, a building contractor working for the Defense Ministry, was killed

Mourners at the funeral of Yosef Fartuk in Jerusalem

in a mortar attack in the Eshkol region. A Bedouin, el-Nabari lived in the village of Rejwan in the Negev.
Faruk had recently finished basic training and was waiting with his unit for an order to begin a ground offensive into Gaza. That order never came. A ceasefire was reached on Wednesday, after eight-days of fighting.
Faruk was from the ultra-Orthodox West Bank settlement of Immanuel, founded by Breslav Chassidim. He studied at the town’s high school. Many of the town’s residents who gathered for his funeral noted the young man’s dedication and willingness to give his life for the country. He was laid to rest in Jerusalem.

Lt. Boris Yarmulnik

IDF reserve officer Lt. Boris Yarmulnik, 28, of Netanya, died on Thursday, Nov. 22 of injuries sustained after a rocket fired from Gaza landed in the Eshkol Regional Council the previous day. Born in Kiev, Yarmulnik immigrated to Israel from Ukraine in 1993 with his family at the age of nine. He attended the Tchernikovsky High School in Netanya and then completed his army service.
For the past few years he had been a physics student at Tel Aviv University.
A munitions officer in his reserves unit, he received an emergency call-up order. During one of the rocket attacks he took cover inside or near an armored vehicle and was hit by shrapnel in the head. He died the following day. Neighbors described Boris as a good, quiet man. He was buried in the Netanya military cemetery. He is survived by his parents and younger brother.