On Sunday, the mother of a soldier killed in Gaza last week revealed the heartbreaking details of her final conversation with him, recounting how she was helplessly on the phone when he was shot and killed.
Sgt. Eyal Shynes, aged 19, lost his life on Thursday while stationed in the southern Gaza Strip, reportedly struck by a sniper’s bullet while speaking to his mother. He was laid to rest on Friday near his hometown kibbutz of Afik in the southern Golan Heights.
Meirav Shynes recounted to Army Radio that she and her son were having a “wonderful conversation” when suddenly gunfire erupted.
“We spoke for a few minutes. He mentioned he’d be returning home and would be back by July 8, even asking his commander if he could stay until Saturday for a concert,” she tearfully recounted. “Then suddenly I heard shots, and that’s how our conversation ended. We could still hear everything, and it was devastating.”
Shynes described how she immediately realized her son, posthumously promoted from corporal according to IDF protocol, had been wounded but initially believed he was alive.
“I didn’t hear gunfire, just his cries and calls for his sergeant,” she said. “When I heard him calling out for his sergeant, I thought he was injured.”
She quickly contacted her son’s social services liaison officer to inform her of the situation, hoping to learn where he was being treated.
“I was certain we’d soon be searching for him in a hospital. I never imagined I’d receive the worst news,” she said.
As she and her husband drove towards Tel Aviv, anticipating they might need to head south eventually, they received no updates from the army or responses to their inquiries, leading them to fear the worst.
“It was when they asked if we were at home that I truly understood,” she said.
Shynes served with the Nahal Infantry Brigade’s 931st Battalion, which has been active in Rafah, southern Gaza, identified by the IDF as the final major stronghold of Hamas.
The fatal incident was claimed by Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, who later released blurry footage allegedly showing a sniper targeting Shynes.
In the footage, Shynes appears to be standing outside a building, talking on the phone and pacing, when suddenly he is struck in the back of his head and disappears from view. Other soldiers rush to his aid. According to Hamas, the attack occurred in eastern Rafah.
The video suggests Shynes was not wearing a helmet despite being in an exposed position.
A day before his death, Shynes was interviewed by a journalist for Mishpacha magazine, reportedly in the same building where the fatal incident occurred, as per Army Radio. The presence of a journalist, typically allowed by the IDF for controlled visits to Gaza, might indicate a perceived safety of the area and could shed light on the soldier’s circumstances while on the phone.
{Matzav.com Israel}
