A British teenager has been killed whilst fighting for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), the state has confirmed.
Binyamin Needham, 19, was killed whilst fighting in Gaza.
He is understood to be the second British national after
Nathanel Young
to have been killed whilst serving in the IDF since the 7 October attacks.
The teenager, who celebrated his 19th birthday two weeks ago, was named by the IDF as being killed in action along with two others.
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Needham had only been in Gaza for two days when he was fatally injured.
The exact circumstances that led to his death have not been revealed.
Needham, who had dual nationality, moved to Israel with his family 10 years ago.
The keen martial artist was born in Edgware, North London before moving to northern Israel with his parents.
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He was the youngest of five children.
Needham was a sergeant in the Combat Engineering Corps of the 601st Battalion and was one of three IDF soldiers killed on Sunday.
The teenager spent his last weekend with his family before sustaining a fatal injury in Gaza.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted his sister Orly as saying: “He was so proud, and he had just finished basic training. He was happy to defend the country.
“He will be missed by all of us and so many others, but we will always make sure we remember him in our hearts.
“Nothing will be the same now, but we are all very proud of what he did and he was also proud of what he was doing.
Young was the first British national to be killed during the Hamas attack
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“He had just finished his apprenticeship and was doing his professional training. We don’t know the exact details of what happened but he was only in Gaza for two days. He went in on Friday and died Sunday.”
He will be buried at a military funeral in Haifa on Tuesday after his body was returned to the family.
In a statement, the IDF said it “shared the family’s grief” and would ‘continue to accompany them’.
Neriya Shaer, 36, of the 55th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade’s 6655th Battalion, from Yavne and Ben Zussman, 22, of the Combat Engineering Corps’ 601st Battalion, from Jerusalem, were also killed alongside the British National.
401 soldiers have died since October 7, with 75 during the ground operations in Gaza.
