"Endless longing" - Memorial Service for the Fallen of Operation "Protective Edge"

12 years have passed since Operation Protective Edge, an operation in which 68 soldiers and 5 civilians lost their lives. For the first time since that operation, the circle has been closed: all the fallen of Operation Protective Edge have been brought to burial in the land of Israel, including Lieutenant Hadar Goldin and Staff Sergeant Oron Shaul, whose bodies were returned to Israel. The memorial ceremony was initiated by the Department of Families, Commemoration and Heritage at the Ministry of Defense and held at the National Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl, where the names of all the fallen defense and security forces of Israel from 1860 to this day are commemorated on memorial stones.

The ceremony was held in the presence of President of the State Isaac Herzog and his wife, Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Michel Buskila, Supreme Court Justice Yechiel Kasher, Deputy IDF Chief of General Staff Major General Tamir Yadai, Chairman of the Yad Labanim organization Eli Tahar, Chairwoman of the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization Adv. Zehava Gross Meidan, and many other distinguished guests.

During the ceremony, images of all 73 fallen soldiers of the operation were displayed, alongside video segments in which families shared their longing. The memorial torch was lit by Glayito Baynesain, widow of Senior Master Sergeant Kesahon Dani Baynesain, who fell in combat on July 21, 2014. The Kaddish prayer was recited by Gil Bersano, father of Sergeant Adar Bersano, who fell at the age of twenty in combat with terrorists who infiltrated through a terror tunnel. The Nahal Band performed the songs "Longing," "My Well-being is Tied to Yours," and "Just Come Back," and the prayer "El Maleh Rachamim" was recited by the IDF's Chief Cantor, Lt. Col. Shai Abramson.