[Guardian] An Israeli tank commander who was hailed as a hero for his actions during Hamas’s attack on Be’eri kibbutz, the scene of one of the worst massacres on 7 October, has been killed while commanding his tank battalion in northern Gaza.
Lt Col Salman Habaka, 33, a member of Israel’s Druze minority, had rushed to Be’eri with his troops when news of the Hamas attack broke on the morning of 7 October, bringing two tanks to the kibbutz, which engaged members of the militant Islamist group in houses where they were hiding.
He is the most senior officer to have been killed during the IDF’s ground operation in the Gaza Strip, bringing the Israeli military death toll since the ground invasions started last weekend to 18.
Habaka was among the first Israeli troops to arrive in Israel’s south as the full scope and horror of Hamas’s attack emerged, and later described his part in the fighting in Be’eri in a video interview.
"I arrived in Be’eri to see Brig Gen Barak Hiram and the first thing he asks me is to fire a shell into a house [where Hamas were sheltering]," he said. 
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