The Israeli sports world mourned St. Sgt.-Maj.Yoav Raver on Friday, who fell in battle alongside three other IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip.
The soldiers were clearing a building in Khan Yunis when a bomb detonated, causing a building to fall on them. The incident occurred at around 6 a.m. on Friday morning, the IDF reported. Five additional soldiers were wounded in the incident, one of them is critically wounded.
Raver, 19, played for the Israeli national basketball team in his teenage years and left a considerable impact on the basketball association. He reportedly could have chosen to continue playing at a professional level, but instead chose to enlist in the IDF’s elite Yahalom unit as a combat engineer.
“The Israel Basketball Association mourns the untimely passing of Yoav Raver, a former member of the Israeli national team for [the] under 14 [team],” the organization said in a statement.
“Raver played in the youth department of Hapoel Kfar Saba and, beyond being an outstanding athlete, won all of us over with his unique and humble character. The Israel Basketball Association extends its condolences to the family.”
IDF soldiers Yoav Raver and Chen Gross fell in the Gaza Strip, June 2025. (credit: ILLUSTRATION)
‘A true hero with a captivating smile’
Raver’s home team, Hapoel Kfar Saba, said that its members were mourning the loss of their alumnus.
“The Hapoel Kfar Saba Basketball Club family announces with great sadness the fall of the club’s alumnus, Sgt.-Maj. Yoav Raver,” the team said in a statement.
“Yoav grew up with us at the basketball school and progressed through the youth department up to the senior youth team. We are shocked and in pain!”
In the same incident, Warr. Ofc. Chen Gross, 33, fell in battle. He was a super fan of the Maccabi Bnei Yehuda soccer team, and was remembered by the club as a “true hero.”
“The Maccabi Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv Football Club bows its head upon hearing of the fall of the team supporter, Staff Sergeant (Res.) Chen Gross, 33, from the Moshav Gan Yashiya, a fighter in the Commando Brigade’s Maglan Unit,” the statement said. “Chen was a man of the earth, a true hero with a captivating smile, and a dedicated soldier. All of us in the club send our condolences to the dear Gross family, many of whom are supporters of the team, and to all his relatives and friends.”
The names of the two other soldiers killed in battle were not cleared for publication.
The deaths of these four soldiers bring the total number of soldiers killed this week to eight.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
