Eighteen-year-old Noy Levi from Petah Tikva enlisted in the IDF Wednesday morning, hoping to join the Givati Brigade to honor the memory of her brother, Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi, who was killed on the Gaza border in 2018.
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"We received the news while on a family vacation in Italy," Levi told Israel Hayom. "It was a Friday and we were getting ready to go out to a restaurant. The phone rang and there was a casualty assistance officer on the line. My father got the news that Aviv was killed on site. From that moment on began a horror film that I don't know how to describe.
"It suddenly felt truly terrible. From the first moment, it was clear to me that I would do something significant. I wanted to be part of the brigade. I understood that working in an administrative capacity would be significant for me and others."
Levi hopes to join the Tzabar Battalion, the same in which her brother served.
"The family supports me in every decision, even though it is not easy for them," she said. "When I get to Givati, it will be something special, a sort of closure. I've always thought about how I could serve in a way that Aviv would be proud of me. I thought about many options, but realized I didn't have to go far.
"Everyone remembers Aviv because he always helped his fellow soldiers and was a kind of father, brother and commander to all," Levi said.
Levi's brother was 21 when he was killed by a Hamas sniper during a clash on Gaza border. Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi's death marked the first IDF fatality on the Gaza front after Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
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